Write 300+ quality words (no fluff or filler) explaining how Othello in The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice by the genius William Shakespeare is similar to/different from Rider in "Pantaloon in Black" by the great William Faulkner.
Consider small, symbolic connections like the handkerchief. Consider major, motif connections like emotional, mental trauma.
(Also, how are these two Williams using their protagonists in similar ways?)
93 comments:
Othello and Rider portray each other in various ways. They both have to deal with the racial tendencies of the white ‘supremacy’. Desdemona’s father, Barbantio, is one of Othello’s higher-up contacts during his reign of the army. But when Rodrigo tells of Othello’s marriage to his daughter, he immediately disapproves of Othello. He is willing to wield a sword to and fight for his daughter. Othello does not know what to expect because of his previous relation with Barbantio. Othello’s race lead to the downfall of this story, with the help of Iago. This shows a very racial Venetian society. As well as with the people of Cyprus. In The Pantaloon in Black, Rider is stressed with his race as well. The way he is described in the short story is that of an ape. A literal ape. He knows no bounds of strength and shows no limitations. He can throw dirt from his shovel like sand. He can toss a heavy shovel like a javelin. Almost like a toothpick. These white people that see this think he is barbaric. He is so exotic to them that he seems like an animal. How could he not, with these animalistic characteristics. The author, William Faulkner, tries to make the readers of the 40’s and 50’s like Rider, and feel bad for him. He does this well, but even himself falls back a short while into the story to explain him like a beast, like a white author would describe. Even when we don’t try, we have racial tendencies. Othello and Rider are compared similarly through their animalistic descriptions and their emotional troubles. They both are written with extreme sorrow. They both have dramatic emotional troubles with women, seeming to show the authors’ thoughts of black men’s inadequacy. In many or close to all movies, the black men are the thieves or the convicts or the huge animals. This is a very racist, very prevalent even today, type of casting that help the movie. The viewers want to see the black men portrayed as less than themselves.
Austin Weisenbach 1
Othello and Rider exhibit similarities throughout both stories. Both are struck by events that change their confidence and clarity of the events that are unfolding; however, Othello is affected by the supposed adultery of his wife, whereas Rider is affected by the death of his wife. They both lack the ability to cope with their emotional instability with healthy ways. Rider turns towards alcoholism and Othello turns to murder. Another connection that can be made between the two is that they both lack the ability to see what their actions are leading to. In both cases the emotional upheaval they cause lead to their deaths. Rider and Othello are both referred to as beasts. Othello is referred to as the moor, while Rider is referred to as a wolf. These descriptions lead to the racism theme present in both stories that both authors used intentionally. A handkerchief is a symbol in both stories, though it is more prominent in Othello. In Othello the handkerchief represents love and innocence, and once Desdemona loses the handkerchief she loses Othello’s love and, in his mind, her innocence, ultimately leading to both of their deaths. In the short story The Pantaloon in Black a handkerchief is place around Rider’s neck. This foreshadows the hanging/choking that ends Rider’s life. Both men come from evil backgrounds. Rider is treated like a slave in his early ages and plays with toys that we would never consider playing with; however, as he gets older he makes money and is respected, for the most part, for the work he does. Othello is born into slavery, but later becomes an admired and respected general. Differences are also prevalent between these two characters. Othello is fully respected by the citizenry of Venice, whereas Rider is considered a monkey and not human due to his skin color. Othello is affected by jealousy, however, Rider is affected by depression. Although these characters were placed in two completely different stories, they express many similarities throughout their respective stories.
Logan Beukelman 2
I believe that both these stories are perfectly correlated together because William Faulkner modeled his story after William Shakespeare in many ways. They model both the main characters after the perfect physique that many men wish they could be, six foot eight inches and massive muscles. The twist however, is that because they are black characters, they give them animal characteristics that make them seem like savages that do not belong in society. Faulkner continually describes Rider’s eating style as that of a wolf and makes him sound like a giant gorilla just as Shakespeare did in his story, just with different terminology due to difference in time era. In both the stories, the main character is struck by tragedy. In Othello, Othello believes Desdemona is cheating on him and in Pantaloon in Black, Rider’s wife dies. They both act in savage ways that end up taking their lives in one way or another. Othello kills Desdemona only to find out that she was not cheating and filled with grief of what he has done he kills himself. Rider is filled with grief of his wife passing in an unknown way at a young age as well and he becomes an alcoholic as the story goes and ends up killing a white man in self defense but gets hung due to racist people not caring who is at fault. Handkerchiefs seem to be a common symbol in the stories as well because Othello’s represents his love and when it is lost so is his love and Rider’s symbolizes that his wearing it around his neck foreshadows the way he will die. Both stories show just how far we have come from the writer’s time period in curing racism. Both however, leave question in the reader that maybe they are racist as well by the way both the stories end. Neither clearly picks a side in which activity is correct rather they just tell a story about how it would have occurred at that time. So the true question is “were either of the Williams racist”? That is left up to the reader to decide but I firmly believe that they both were not racist and these stories were intended to change culture to destroy racism. Either way I firmly believe that the second of the stories was modeled after the first to form the same belief.
Clark 2
William Shakespeare's Othello and William Faulkner's Pantaloon in Black are two brilliant stories about racism. Faulkner wrote his story after Shakespeare to model the racism against the African American culture. Othello and Rider have many similarities including they are both described as six foot tall and impressively masculine. The characters are seen to compared to as beast or animals. Like animals Othello and Rider are unable to cope with the emotions that are inside of them. Othello kills his wife because of Iago telling him of an affair, then he later realizes that Desdemona did in fact say true to her word and was a faithful wife. Othello then not know how to deal with the emotions kills his wife and then himself. Rider is trying to cope with the lose of his wife to an unknown death by readers that he turns to drinking and gambling to satisfy his emotions that later gets him in trouble with the law in the end killed. Another factor that both Othello and Rider have to face is racial disposition of the white people having and acting of more power. Othello has to deal Desdemona father Barbantio being against his marriage to his daughter because it is unjust to marry an African American man with a white woman, even enough to kill Othello. Othello did not expect this because of the relationship that he and Barbantio had prior to the marriage. Rider faces racial discrimination when the white people work together to restrain him and kill him in the African American School house because he notice that the white people were cheating at poker and being drunk he acted in a way that made the white men hang and kill him. A difference between these two men are Othello was born into slavery and become high power in the military because of his strengths and the people of Venice respect him. When Riders is not respected at all with and is only usefully to people for his work and strength. These two stories have similarities and some differences but it shows racism and gives you feeling for what is going on the the world during Shakespeare’s and Faulkner's time that is still going on today.
Jennifer Dede
Pd. 2
When comparing and contrasting the two main characters, Rider and Othello, of Shakespeare’s Othello and Falkner’s Pantaloon in Black I found striking similarities. Of course there is the obvious similarity, both character’s wives have passed away (different causes entirely). After their deaths, Othello and Rider seem like they also died when their wives did. Othello however was already pretty insane before or I do not believe he could have been able to kill his own wife. His way of dealing with his jealous insanity was murder. Rider was numb to Mannie’s death at first but gradually grew insane and so lonely that he was wishing to die. He turned to alcohol in order to deal with his sorrows. Next comparable topic in the stories is racism. Desdemona’s father and the rest of Venice are very racist towards Othello, so racist that they call him “the Moor.” In Pantaloon Rider is so dehumanized that his own boss and capital only view him as a machine that makes them money. Faulkner even refers to Rider as a horse and implies that he has ape like characteristics. Both characters do not seem to be necessarily affected by these discriminations mentally however. Symbolically the two stories shared the “handkerchief.” In Pantaloon the handkerchief appeared when Rider wore a black one around his neck. To me this foreshadowed his death, of being hanged in the schoolhouse later. In Othello, the handkerchief was a more prominent symbol. It represented innocence and the love shared between Othello and Desdemona. Ultimately, without the handkerchief Othello would have had no proof, thus sparing Desdemona’s life. It does not surprise me that these two very different time periods had not so very different events taking place. Still today, our society faces racism, alcoholism, murder and even more problems that did not exist back in Othello’s or Rider’s time.
Amanda Nelson, 7
First off I would like to say that Othello and “Pantaloon in Black” are both great and I would recommend both to anyone. Both of there are very similar to each other but they also have some differences. The major similarities between these two are they both us a lot of racism and use conflicts to trouble the main character. In Othello, William Shakespeare has the racism come from the white man because they are jealous that Othello is married to Desdemona. In the “Pantaloon in Black”, William Faulkner follows what Shakespeare did and uses white people as the racists. Both authors also used major symbols to draw the viewer into the story or play. In Othello the handkerchief is a major symbol that shows the love between Othello and Desdemona but when the handkerchief is gone then all the love is thrown away and jealousy turns people against one and other. In the “Pantaloon in Black” the jug is the major symbol. In the story the jug is full of moonshine or alcohol in which Rider wants to drink to get over the grief of his wife any who died. Faulkner uses this much like Shakespeare did, when Mannie was a live Rider wouldn’t drink or go gambling but once Mannie was taken away from Rider things changed and we went back to drinking. These were also differences the authors had. Shakespeare used jealousy to be the main protagonist in his play and Faulkner used grief to be the main protagonist in his story. Another difference between these was Faulkner used harsher words and imagery of racism in his story, while Shakespeare used subtle words but if you really looked at them you would see they are very racist. Although both of these are different they both convey the same theme in the end that racism existed and still does today.
Thorson 5
William Shakespear’s Othello and William Faulkner’s Rider are very similar characters and stories in ways they are described and racial content. In both stories each character were portrayed as a six-foot tall, huge guy that is extremely masculine and the protecter. During the stories Othello and Rider are compared to beast like animals and monsters. In Shakespear’s story the marriage between Desdemona and Othello was not okayed by the father, Brabantio. The story of a black man and a white woman in a marriage seemed to be a drama in itself of that time. Othello is the Moor, provider of Desdemona, and well respected that when things were going wrong he let his pride overcome him. He doesn’t talk to his wife without making actions for what he heard. Othello killed his wife and later found out he was wronged. Where Rider was a hard worker and a provider for his wife. They were married and happy together. They worked well together and filled in where the other was weak. Rider was the happiest man and when his wife died he did not have a choice like Othello. Rider was severely depressed and without his wife he was a changed man. He was stripped from his masculinity and showed his weakness. When Othello’s wife was murdered he was still full of pride and never really showed his weakness. Othello was compared to as a beast and as a jealous monster taking over the town. Rider was compared to as a wolf and as a horse. In the end each character had lost a loved one, both being their wife, but they also lost themselves and they both had died, leaving behind people who love and care for them.
Marissa South
Period 1
Both william were some of the most influential writers of all time. Both knew and understood steroe types of african americans and both felt to twist it and show a bigoted white man the truth behind a black mans mortal soul.Both hooked you by showing a soft side to these enourmous apes of a man both showing you they are capable of love,compasion, sorrow, and most of all regreat all feeling most slave owners had no acknowlegment of. This showed them that they are normal even if they are different color then your self. They strived to humble a racist. But this is where they seperat one othello is living a wonderfull life of power and thee other is living a modest life, but not in poverty, both showing they are capable of financial success. Rider has already had his happiness and shows the greif of lossing that. Othello is the reeper of his own happiness by being easily tricked and subdued into a plot against himself. taking his happiness with his own bare hands. Rider feels sorry for himself he still has a life to live for but he is lost due to the fact of having no one to live it with this is where his confilct comes. Rider and othello are both their own cause of self-destruction. Both show you that sterotypes are false and make racist think about relations they have to these two men and then use that as a mirrior to show those men they are capable of these same act of coruptment. Both tragic stories end in them giving up their lives in feer of bearing the load of sorrow on their shoulders.
Fontenille pd.5 above^
Both William Shakespeare and William Faulkner use many similar symbols in their writings. Both authors have their main character fighting for the love of their lives. In both stories, Othello and Rider, both deal with the loss of their wives. Othello was unfortunately lied to by Iago which, caused him to go crazy and even kill his beloved wife, Desdemona. Then after finding out he was lied to, Othello killed himself to be with Desdemona. In Pantaloon in Black Rider is dealing with loss of his beloved wife, Manning. Rider has a very hard time dealing with the loss and finds the best way to grieve from the pain is to drink his troubles away and also shove people away from helping him. Eventually the pain of being without Manning got so bad, Rider did the unthinkable and it got him killed. Also Shakespeare and Faulkner use black males as their main characters, with the main characters surrounded by white people. The two characters are very similar in their builds; tall, black, and very muscular. In the two stories racism plays a major role, the white people referring to both characters as horrible animals and then treating them as animals. In Othello, Othello, himself is called an old black ram and several other racial animal names but, yet is also praised by some because of how good of a solider Othello is. In Pantaloon in Black, Rider is called an ape that has no limits. Rider can shovel dirt with one hand, throw his shovel into the ground like a javelin, and he can carry logs that two guys couldn’t even move. Both Shakespeare and Faulkner wrote about issues during their time. In their time racism was a major issue; it still is today, not as bad but definitely still present in this day in time.
Sundvold pd.2
Both “The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice” and “Pantaloon in Black” are tough reads and it takes a scholar to not only read, but study the stories. William Shakespeare, the author of Othello, cleverly wrote about social issues that still haunt society today. The theme that sticks out to me the most is jealousy. Jealously is defined from Dictionary.com as this “mental uneasiness from suspicion or fear of rivalry, unfaithfulness- as in love or aims.” Othello constructs his own death, by psyching himself out that his newlywed wife is already cheating on him with his first lieutenant, Cassio. He then goes to extreme measures in planning to kill Desdemona, instead of believing her word that she is entirely faithful to him only. “Pantaloon in Black” written by William Faulkner, also has threads of jealously throughout the story. You could say the Rider is jealous of the white culture or just their skin tone in general. He is mistreated because of his color and psychologically he could want to be white too. Another major theme throughout both stories is racism. Both of the main characters are black and are looked down upon because of it. Othello is one of few black people in that time period in Venice, Italy and Shakespeare skillfully picks up and rolls with this thought. Othello marries one of the most sought after young women of Venice and is very notorious for his new addition. Rider is one of many black people in “Pantaloon in Black” which is different than Othello, but the fact that he is criticized is still the same. Rider is a poor lumber yard worker who had recently lost his wife, but the expected sympathy of a death surely does not come from the whites in the town. He is still condemned for grieving the loss. And the last difference I noticed was that Othello, the warrior of Venice, Italy, is a wealthy man were Rider, the drunken’ grieving man, is poor and has worked hard for what he now owns.
McDonald.. pd2
When examining Othello and Rider, many more similarities than differences seem to appear. Both of these black men are living in a white world. Racism is prevalent in both the play and the story. White characters always hold the vast majority of the power. Othello and Rider are big, burly men that could easily slay any of the white people holding more authority, but they are unable for racial barriers exist. The white leaders such as the Duke or the white owners of the timber company are very smart because they provide some leeway to their greatest assets. For example, the Duke approved of Desdemona and Othello’s marriage. Alcohol was given to Rider upon his request. Rider and Othello’s superior stature give them more power than some of the lesser characters, but never as much as the white leaders. Death will find Othello and Rider before each of the tales is ended. Deceit and misleading evidence will be the cause of Othello’s end where as alcohol, depression, and addition will bring Rider’s life to a halt. In a way, both of these courageous men will bring an end to their own lives. Othello chooses to listen to Iago instead of simply asking Desdemona is she has been unfaithful. Rider chooses to resort to his old ways of drinking and gambling after his tragic loss. The men could have handled their problems much differently, but each of them took their life into their own hands; they passed away in an unpleasant manner for doing so. Animal characteristics were used to describe both of these protagonists. In a sense, these men where compared to animals, not humans. In both of their times, they were certainly looked upon as less than human. Othello was viewed better than Rider because he was a war hero. Rider was merely a lowly manual laborer that had the strength of two or three men. Rider was nothing more than dirt to the whites he worked for. As a whole, these men are incredibly similar. Both of the “Williams” had similar ideas concerning a black protagonist.
Murren1
Shakespeare’s Othello and Faulkner’s Pantaloon in Black are more similar than different in my opinion. Both William Shakespeare and Faulkner grasp readers’ attention through tragic love stories. In both these stories Rider and Othello are forced to consider life without their other half. After only short times together, both men lost the love they so desperately longed for. In Pantaloon in Black, Rider’s masculine physique and manners are overcome by his desperation for his wife, Mannie. After losing her suddenly, Rider wishes he could become weaker to enable him to die easier. Othello faces the same scenario. Soon after killing his wife Desdemona, Othello kills himself because he realizes life without her is as miserable as death. Both men are unable to cope with such emotional trauma and tragically lose their own lives because of it. Irrational decisions were made in the capable hands of these two colored men. This is also another similarity between the two stories. Othello and Rider are men of ethnic decent and deal with the prejudice that comes with that. Othello is looked down upon by Desdemona’s white, political father as Rider is looked down upon by the white, powerful foreman he works for. The handkerchief serves as a symbolic message in both Othello and Pantaloon in Black. In Faulkner’s story, the handkerchief foreshadows Rider’s death by hanging. It is first seen wrapped around Rider’s neck as he works to earn respect. In Shakespeare’s story, the handkerchief symbolizes the respect and loyalty Desdemona is expected to have for her husband also foreshadowing her death after having it stolen from her, like her life…stolen without reason. Both authors creatively developed these short stories to persuade readers into feeling sympathy for Rider and Othello. The tragic stories seep sympathy into the hearts of readers in hopes that the anti-racism themes will be seen. Obviously these stories illustrate the devastating effects of death and the emotional burden left upon survivors.
Donovan 7
In William Shakespeare’s Othello and William Faulkner’s “Pantaloon in Black”, the protagonists are very similar in many ways. Othello and Rider are much alike in the way their bodies are built. Both Othello and Rider are tall, muscular, black men. In Othello , Othello is called the Moor which is very discriminating towards him. In “Pantaloon in Black”, Rider is highly discriminated by the white owners of the log plantation he works at. The white plantation owners work Rider as though he is a machine, they don’t even bother suggesting he go home when he shows up at work the day after his wife, Mannie’s, funeral. The white men don’t even care that Rider’s wife died, all they care about is that Rider is at work and putting all of his effort into his job. Othello is played and fooled by Iago who is supposed to be like his friend. Iago fools Othello into thinking that his wife Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio. To make it really look as though Cassio and Desdemona are having an affair, Iago puts Desdemona’s handkerchief that she received from Othello into Cassio’s room. Rider is played and somewhat fooled by Birdsong. For years, Birdsong has been cheating while gambling with the black plantation workers. Birdsong has a second pair of dice, which are rigged, that he keeps in his pocket till it is his turn so that way he can be sure that he wins the money and not any of the black men. Rider wears a handkerchief about his neck while he is at work. Is it a coincidence that both Othello and “Pantaloon in Black” have a handkerchief in them? I think not. The handkerchief in Othello symbolized Othello’s love for Desdemona and Desdemona’s loyalty to Othello. In “Pantaloon in Black”, the handkerchief may symbolize Mannie’s being to Rider. The handkerchief was never mentioned in “Pantaloon in Black” until Rider went to work the day after Mannie’s funeral. There is the possibility that maybe the handkerchief was one of Mannie’s and maybe Rider wanted to wear it to feel as though Mannie is still there with him. Othello and “Pantaloon in Black” are much alike, and I firmly believe that William Faulkner intentionally made his protagonist much like William Shakespeare’s protagonist.
Bennett 7
Othello and Rider have many similarities allowing us to infer that Faulkner was familiar with Shakespeare's work. The first similarity between the characters is that they are both black people who live in racist societies. Othello had to deal with racism in Venice while Rider had to experience it in the South. Along with racism, animalistic characteristics are used to describe both men. Othello is called a "black ram" while Rider is called a horse and eats by "wolfing" down his food. Characteristics like these are often used when pondering or admiring black people's phisique. A handkerchief is used as a symbol in both stories; for Othello it was a symbol of Desdemona's faith to him and ultimatley leads to his mental torment. The handkerchief symbolizes Rider's tormenting grief by symbolically choking him. During their mental instability, both characters wish they were weaker so they could die easier since "dying is easier than living". The mental torment that Othello and Rider feel is strong enough to ultimately cause them to end their own lives. Othello stabs/chokes himself after killing Desdemona, and Rider hangs himself in a school house after being grief-stricken and possibly even guilt-ridden from not being able to prevent Mannie's death. Both stories portray relevant issues that are still common in today's society-racism, alcoholism being used to cope with grief, and miscommunication problems.
-Huntimer, pd. 2
There are many similarities between William Shakespeare's Othello, and William Faulkner's Pantaloon in Black. Both of the main characters are black, not the typical race in a story written in the time periods they were written in. There are many correlations between both men, they were obviously black, they also where very large, especially Rider. They were extremely strong and very muscular, almost ten times stronger than the average man. Both men were subjected to amazing amounts of racism. Both stories were greatly revolved around racism and disrespecting the black race. Some more similarities between both stories are the awful tragedies they both endure. Rider loses his wife, and Othello is made to believe that his wife was committing adultery with another man. Both cannot deal with their feelings in a correct manner. They cannot deal with their emotions and in the end they get the best of them. There are a few symbols that are similar in each of the stories, in Othello the handkerchief is a major symbol, representing love and innocents. Once Desdemona loses the handkerchief that is when Othello see that as she lost his love and that just puts more disbelief that she could still love him. Where in Pantaloon in Black, there is a handkerchief but it is placed around Rider's neck and that later infers to how he dies. Both Rider and Othello came from being slaves and slave families, but gain their freedom due to their hard work they accomplish. In both stories the men are referred to as animals. They are called beasts and horses, wolves and dogs. Each author makes the actions of each very strong and powerful, almost animal like to show what the other people in the stories are meaning. Shown here in each story there are many powerful similarities.
Zangara 2
In my opinion, Shakespeare’s Othello and Faulkner’s Pantaloon in Black are more similar than different. Both William Shakespeare and Faulkner grasp readers’ attention through tragic love stories. Both of these stories are similar in how Othello and Pantaloon are forced to live without their lover or other half of themselves. Both Othello and Pantaloon only spent a short time with their spouses due to them dying right away, which questioned themselves if life even mattered to them anymore? Also in both of these tragic stories there is a lot of racism toward them. In Othello they all hate him because he secretly married a white woman behind the leaders back, but then again it wasn’t just any white women it was the leader’s daughter. There a lot of conflict during the story because they got married. Now Pantaloon is a character that the reader really likes and cares about during the story because in our eyes he does mostly everything right and I mean how can’t you like that in a character. Pantaloon is described as this massive, tough, black guy that seems unstoppable but on the inside of him he is very tiny because of the loss of his love. Both of these characters are hated because they are black. A difference in these stories is how their love ones died. Othello killed his own wife because he found out that she was cheating on him and didn’t give her a chance to explain herself and suffocated her to death. While Panataloon’s love is a mystery death and that makes it much harder on him to live without her. Reta 7
There are many different ways that Rider and Othello can be connected, but emotionally and physically. They both are black men who are dominant at something. Rider is very big and is a great worker in the forest cutting down trees while Othello is an amazing soldier. Both men are treated lower than men even though they can be considered manlier than the white men that look down on them. They are both considered less than humans and are very often compared to animals like dogs, bears and wolves. Both Othello and Rider are deeply in love with their significant other and when their lover passes away they know that they cannot continue their lives like they did before because nothing will ever be the same as it used to. Even though Othello killed Desdemona and Mannie was killed by what we can infer was natural causes, both men take the deaths very hard. Even though both men are warriors in one way or another, they both have a soft side in my opinion. In Othello you see this when Desdemona and he were getting married and in other parts of the play just the way he cared for her, but he eventually listened to Iago’s lies and took her life. When Rider found Mannie he immediately turned his life toward god and stopped drinking and gambling. Once Mannie passed away he listened to his friends and thought that would be the best way to get over the grief, so he turned back to the jug and even though he did not kill himself like Othello did, his purposeful actions got him killed. Othello said in the play that he would rather not kill Iago and make him suffer; death was the easiest possible option for both Rider and Othello so that is what they chose in the end so that they could be with the people that mattered most.
Herl, Pd. 5
In my personal opinion, I would say that Shakespeares Othello, and Falulkner's Pantaloon in Black are very close to the same thing. Both stories grab your attention through very facinating and tragic stories of love. In the story Othello and Pontaloon in Black they both can not hold on too their emotions very well. They have a tough time copeing with the ones they love. Othello kills himself because he becomes jealous of a supposed affair with another man. Rider loses his wife right away in the story and suffers through depression throughout the whole story. He can not figure out what he should do and where he should go. Rider becomes very confused in the story same as Othello, but rider is confused by birdsong he finds out his wife has been cheating for years. Othello finds out that his wife is cheating from Iago and Iago tries to find any and every reason to have her killed (even though she never cheated). In both stories there is a hankerchief symbolizing something. Rider wore the hankerchief around his neck. Othello gave his wife the hankerchief at their wedding. In Pantaloon the hankerchief is from possibly his wife Mannie. The hankerchief was not mentioned throughout the story until the day after Mannies funeral. He maybe wore it too remember his late wife, and maybe he wore it because he has feminine qualities inside of his personality. In Othello the hankerchief shows the power of force used throughout the whole story. He uses this as revenge when its lost, and found by Iago. Big fights insue and the story turns out tragic. Everyone almost dies for nothing at all, just confusion. The stories are very similar as I have just described, Othello and Rider are almost the same person. The stories have sort of been a copy of each other. Rider only looses his wife right away, and Othello loses his wife towards the end of the story. So the tragedies are very close but just swapped at the beginning, and end. Faulkner used Shakespears story and modified it to be his own in most ways.
Sam Keller Pd. 5
William Shakespeare’s Venetian tragedy, Othello and William Faulkner’s short story “Pantaloons in Black” are two phenomenal pieces of work that should definitely be analyzed more. The basic overview of Othello is Othello, a Christian moor, becomes influenced by Iago, that his wife has been having an affair with Othello’s newly appointed lieutenant. As the plot continues, Othello is fed more, and more lies by “honest” Iago and eventually succumbs to his jealousy and smothers his wife claiming she has been unfaithful. Othello then proceeds to kill himself once he finds out that Iago has been feeding him nothing but lies. William Faulkner’s “Pantaloons in Black” is about a man named Rider whose wife was recently died. With the death of his wife, Rider decides to turn to alcohol and then goes on a drunken rage, killing one of the mill’s security guards named Birdsong. As the story continues, the police find and arrest Rider, but he rips off the cell door and escapes. However; a few days later, Rider is found hanging from the bell-rope of the schoolhouse, with his death being committed by an unknown person or persons. Both of these pieces of literary work include a masculine black male as the main character, and both seem to be played by a “prominent” white male. After reading Othello and then Pantaloons in Black, it is clear to me that William Faulkner read and studied Othello because of the handkerchief mentioned in the story. Both stories are based off of racism, but are definitely portrayed in different manners.
Ryan Johnston
Pd 5
Othello and Rider are similar and quite the same in many aspects. Both characters find emotional barriers regarding their wives. Othello cannot seem to trust his wife where as Rider cannot live or move on without his wife. Othello turns to murder to take care of his doubts and frustrations. Rider turns to alcohol to forget his grief and anger of the loss of his wife. They also face similarities concerning symbols within their lives. The handkerchief in Othello’s life represents love, peace, and trust. When Desdemona loses this mystical handkerchief Othello feels like Desdemona has lost her love for Othello. Rider’s handkerchief is around his neck foreshadowing his hanging death. Another similarity between Othello and Rider is that they are both physically built the same. They are tall, dark, and muscular. With this they have the same problem with their peers degrading them because they are black. Barbantio hates the idea of Othello being married to his daughter solely because he is black not because he is not a good man. Rider also has to deal with racism. Because he is black he cannot own his own home so, he has to rent and he also has to work under the command of white men. Their past is also similar because they have both gone through dark childhoods. Rider never met his parents and does not know what affection feels like. He does not know what it is like to feel wanted. Othello was born into slavery so he has grown up without freedom, family, or love. His greatest accomplishment is being a mighty war hero which is not the lightest of backgrounds. A difference between Rider and Othello is that Othello’s people see him as a powerful leader and look up to him and Rider’s peers see him as a beast or an animal. Another difference between the stories would be Faulkner was very blunt as to how the whites felt about the blacks and Shakespeare was a little more discrete about the ideas that were going on. Although these stories were written different time periods they hold the same value and suggest the same message—racism is never ending.
Tofteland 2
The play Othello and the short story the Pantaloon in Black have a lot of similarities. The main characters are both black men living in a racist white world. Some differences from the play and the short story are that Othello struggles more with other people and the jealousy, where as Rider struggles more internally with himself and the loss of his wife. Also Othello loses his wife at the end of the play and he is the one who killed her. We know how Desdemona died where as in Pantaloon in Black we do not know how Mannie died and she also died at the beginning of the story. The handkerchief is a symbol in both stories. In Pantaloon in Black Rider more than likely received it from his wife Mannie and he starts to wear it the day after the funeral to maybe feel more connected to his deceased wife. In Othello the handkerchief is a symbol of love and jealousy. The handkerchief is what confirms the rumors for Othello and that was his final straw. Rider and Othello are both big muscular black men who could take anyone down with little to no effort. Throughout both stories they are both confused on what to do. Rider starts out as doing everything right and making the reader feel sympathetic towards him but then he starts to drink and gamble and do everything that went against what Mannie believed. She changed him to be a better person. Othello is confused on what he should do about the rumor of Desdemona cheating on him. He tries to ignore that it is possibly happening until he see's Cassio with the handkerchief Othello gave Desdemona. The handkerchief was a symbol of Othello's love towards her and she was supposedly careless with it. In the end they both make the wrong decisions leading to the death of them both.
Grimmius pd. 1
In Othello and in Pantaloon in Black racism is a major theme for both of them. Racism was a major part of society back then, and for both of these to involve racism was an eye opener to the people. Back then society made fun of and 'picked' on those of a different race. In both of these however, the black men have a lot to be thankful for, as each of them have lived lives that I am sure they do not regret living; since they get to live their lives with amazing women who were very nice to them. Although both women end up dying, Desdemona dies in the end, and Mannie dies in the beginning. Desdemona dies from Othello killing her, and we are not really sure what Mannie dies from, we are just lead to believe that it is from natural causes. Shortly after Mannie dies Rider starts to wear a handkerchief that he was given, and it is almost a symbol of Mannie, and how she will still be with him even though it will not be her body, there will still be a physical remembrance. Othello also receives a handkerchief from Desdemona to show that she does love him. Each of these muscular strong black men are fighting a force, whether it be internally or externally. Othello is fighting an external force from the people around him. They do not like that he married a white girl, or none the less they do not like the fact that she married a black man. Rider is facing an internal force of losing his wife, and how her ghost comes back. In the end both men deiced to make the wrong choice, and end up losing there lives. The stories are very much different, but when you look at them in greater detail, they do have a lot of similarities.
Drexler Period 5
In the two stories, The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice , written by William Shakespeare, and The Pantaloon in Black, written by William Faulkner, there are many prominent similarities. The similarities would be how both are mentally unstable with their life and their wives. Othello is upset about his wife’s adultery and dealing with her unfaithfulness; while Rider is emotionally unstable about his wife’s death and doesn’t know how to grieve for her. Also, in both stories is a major symbol of a handkerchief. In Othello, the handkerchief that Othello gives to Desdemona represents the pure, innocence of their love and their faith to one another. When he finds it in the hands of another man, Othello assumes the rumor of the affair must be true and that’s where the chaos starts. In the short story The Pantaloon in Black the handkerchief hangs around Rider’s neck and foreshadows his death by being hung at the end of the story. In both stories, there is an abundance of racism name-calling and quotes. Both of the men were described with animalistic features or ways of doing things. Othello is known as the Moor and Rider is described as more of a horse. Both of the men have irresponsible ways with dealing with what is going on. Rider turns to alcohol and gambling to try to get over his wife’s death. Othello becomes so hurt when Desdemona loses her handkerchief that he believes what her father had told him earlier in the story; “look to her Moor, if thou hast eyes to see. She has deceived her father, and may thee.” Othello deals with her adultery by killing her and unconsciously kills himself by losing the one thing he was living for. Even though these two stories weren’t written in the same time period, they have a lot of similarities and relate to each other greatly.
Kruger 2
There are many more similarities than differences between Othello and Pantaloon in Black. William Shakespeare made the main character in his piece of work an African American man, as did William Faulkner. Both writers of which are white. Also, in both stories there are white folks against the two black ones. Othello and Rider are both fairly young men. While both of the stories have to do with love. Othello is in love with a white women which was absurd in their generation. Rider is also in love. In the end they both have to figure out how to carry on their lives in an as close to normal manner as they can without their significant other. There is a lot of internal conflict with the main characters in both stories as well. Othello thinks his wife is sleeping with other men and Rider loses his wife. Othello copes with it by being violent while Rider uses alcohol. Ironically, yet not, there is a handkerchief involved in both stories as well. William Faulkner definitely read William Shakespeare’s Othello. The two are way to similar for all of these relations to be a coincidence. There are also differences though. Rider is a huge masculine, beastly man. While Othello is just an average feller. They are obviously set in different time periods and in different places. There are two different types of language uses in the two pieces as well. Rider is dealing with supernatural things while Othello is dealing with real life people who are against him. Othello kills himself while Rider wishes himself to become weaker so he will be able to be killed more easily. All in all both stories have very much similar qualities as do the characters within them. Faulkner was clearly a great Shakespeare fan to of written another story so similar to Shakespeare’s.
Corcoran 5
After reading William Shakespeare’s Othello and William Faulkner’s Pantaloon in Black, I have realized many similarities and differences between these two famous pieces of literature. One main theme in the play and short story is racism, which helps to emphasize what was happening to the African American culture during these different time periods. There are also obvious symbols that lead us to believe that Faulkner based his story off of Shakespeare’s play. Both of the main characters are very similar. Othello and Rider are two very large black males that are strong and often compared to animals. Both of them are very masculine and end up losing there wife; either at the beginning or ending of each story. Once each woman was dead their husbands lost control of themselves and acted as if they had also died emotionally. Rider can not handle the grief and goes back to his old habits of drinking, while Othello decides to turn the sword on himself. Another similar topic in both stories is racism. Othello is looked down upon by Desdemona’s father, Barbantio, and many other civilians in the city of Venice. They do not like the thought of a white lady and black man being married, so harass him by calling him “the moor”. Comparable, Rider is like a slave in his community. The white folks do not care about him or his feelings considering his wife just died. They continue to make him work and go about his day. Also, the handkerchief was presented in both stories as well. This is just another piece of evidence that Faulkner based Pantaloon off of Othello, because a handkerchief is not a common object to have meaning in a story. However, they had different symbols and meanings. In Pantaloon, the handkerchief was black and tied around Rider’s neck, foreshadowing his death later in the story. While in Othello, the handkerchief was more of a symbol of Othello and Desdemona’s relationship and love for each other. Even though these two stories were written in different time periods, there is much evidence suggesting that Pantaloon was based off of Othello.
Benz 7
Pantaloon in Black was most certainly based off William Shakespeare’s Othello. There is no doubt in my mind. Both stories reveal oppressive forces against a black main character. Also they both have a love/marriage theme as well as a hubris complex. Even the authors share the same name. It’s like in a teaching textbook they instructed the teacher to compare the two stories. In Othello the black character, Othello, has a handkerchief. It is a gift from his lover, Desdamona, and a symbol of their love together. When it is stolen, it marks the downfall of not only Othello’s love for Desdamona, but also the downfall of Othello himself. Pantaloon in black parallels this with the symbol of the handkerchief being a noose around Rider’s neck. It symbolizes blue collar work and a hard life, and ultimately his downfall as it turns into a noose. Another striking analogy existing between the two stories is the physical struggle between the main, black character and the other antagonists. In Shakespeare’s Othello, Othello uses swords, knives, and his burly masculinity to kill and wound various characters. He does this out of spite and revenge for what he believes they have done. In Faulkner’s Pantaloon in Black, Rider kills the oppressive force which is his white boss out of rage and mental instability. In both cases, the man kills with great force with great emotion. The crimes were very violent and intense. That also leads into the fact that both black men were gigantic. They have very large bodies capable of enormous physical tasks. Rider could lift the heaviest of logs and Othello could woo Venice’s hottest women. Additionally their ids both took control of their minds. Othello couldn’t resist his urge to kill Desdamona, and Rider couldn't stop himself from drinking the jug of moonshine and killing his boss.
Hosman 5
Othello and Rider pertray each other in various ways. They both have to deal with a lot of rachel tendencies from white men and women. They both also have many similar symbols of racism and love. In Othello he needs to continuesly make the white people happy in doing their bidding when it comes to war. In Pantaloon in Black Rider is constantly being put down by racial comments as well as Othello. Both characters are portrayed as big and strong almost animal like and are both reference as being animals. A symbol that is in both is the handkerchief which symbolizes glue to there relationship, is what I think. In Othello the handkerchief is a very strong object that shows Othellos love for Desdomona and once Iago convinces Othello that Cassio has it it breaks Othello and Des apart. In Pantaloon in Black Rider is kept together with Mannie through the handkerchief. When you find the handkerchief you also start to see Riders mental emotions come out and how imature he acts about losing Mannie. Othello also shows how mentally unstable he is by trusting his friend over his wife and wanting to kill her. I believe that William Faulkner use much of Shakespeares idea behind the story Othello. There is too much in common for him not too. The theme for both of these is obviously about racism and they both try to make the black man the good guy and make the reader want to like him. Even today someone could make a story like this and it would relate. Both of these men were pure geniuses for the stuff they wrote. The conflicts they created in their stories can still be reflected on today. While analyzing both of these stories makes me try and put it into the real world and how society is today and I think that is what both of these writers were trying to accomplish.
Crow, 2
Short story Pantaloon in Black and playwright Othello no doubt have similarities. Clearly William Faulkner was familiar with the writings of William Shakespeare. The main characters-protagonists of the two stories are similar in that both are large black, powerful men. As Rider is powerful with his brute strength, he can intimidate other people therefore giving him authority. Othello has great physical strength as well, but also holds a lot of power as a strong military leader. Both characters like having power and control. The two stories show how white men depend on these strong, black, men. The duke and other governors in Othello depend on Othello to win the war for them, Faulkner’s story; Rider is used by the white people to do physical labor. A parallel symbol of white men’s dependence on black men follows the two stories. When the plots begin to intensify and bad things happen in the two characters lives, how they deal with these hardships is unfortunate for the audience, and merely irrational actions. Emotional struggles that Othello faces include being insecure about his wife. He does not trust her. As Othello is used to being in control over many, this strongly upsets him that she may be cheating on him. Rider has strong emotional struggles as well. He has just buried his wife, Mannie and is in a cross between denial and madness over the loss. Both characters make irrational decisions and end up creating even more loss. Upon killing himself, Othello ends up killing his wife over mere rumors of her unfaithfulness and Rider makes poor decisions killing his boss and himself. Both men could have accepted help from other characters instead of creating more havoc. A possible thought for both men and their situations include being dead would be better than being alive. The two authors made the stories similar to reiterate the foolishness of being too stubborn to make rational decisions, both men made the situations way worst than necessary.
Austin Carlson PD: 1
Both Faulkner and Shakespeare composed incredibly profound works of literature here. There are similarities and differences between the two that are meaningful and allow me to learn even more. To start both stories unfold due to a tragedy that has been inflicted on both main characters: Rider tries to deal with the death of his wife, and Othello deals with the rumor that his wife has committed adultery on him. Both men are eventually consumed due to their inability to cope with such a heartbreaking situation. Othello becomes filled with lies that Iago feeds him about Desdemona’s supposed unfaithfulness and Othello doesn’t know how to properly cope with this information. He ultimately does the unthinkable: to become so torn apart by a lie that he kills the one he truly loves. In Riders circumstance, his wife, Mannie, has already died from an unknown cause to the readers. Faulkner makes it clear that Mannie was the one person who held Rider together. Before they met, he was a gambling, drinking, fool but when this amazing person came into his life, he changed for the better for her. And without her, he goes back to his old ways and is in the killed. Both males die without their true loves in their lives. In both stories people couldn’t understand the relationships that they had with their wives. It was pure and honest, and people were jealous of that and ended up taking that value away, whether intentional or not. There are so many ignorant and judgmental individuals today and both Faulkner and Shakespeare surely knew that was a quality that wouldn’t dwindle in years to come. On another note I viewed Iago and the gambler, Birdsong, as superior white men cheating blacks out of there money and happiness. Iago manipulates Othello only for personal gain without considering the drastic repercussions that lie ahead due to his mendacity towards everyone. Othello then realizes his tricks, just as Rider figured out Birdsongs cheating ways. The gambler had been stealing money and pride from men for years and Rider had fallen victim to all the lies as well until he lost everything and then found the truth; just as when Othello lost his high-ranked position and his love to discover Iago’s twisted plan. Both men were puppet masters in a game of human emotions. The elements of each story are still incredible relevant to today in many ways, which make them great exhibits to study.
William Shakespeare and William Faulkner, both brilliant writers in English literature, wrote two very similar tragedies: Othello and Pantaloon in Black. William Shakespeare wrote Othello as a play portraying his protagonist-Othello-as a black who went through unimaginable hardships. Othello lives in Venetian times and is forced to blend with the dominant white race of the era. William Faulkner, author of the short story, Pantaloon in Black, opens his writing with a common feeling everyone deals with-grief. Faulkner’s protagonist, Rider, is trying to cope with the death of his wife, Mannie. Unable to cope with his grief because of the racial oppression in the South that he faces limits his emotional potential as a human being. The two protagonists share this racial hardship and the authors persuade us to feel for each of the characters. The irony in the two characters should be clear to the readers. When we think of black men, we think of slaves and how well built they had to be, but both of the characters face the hardship of standing up to the whites they are surrounded by because of their color. The similarities within the two writings are endless. In both Othello and Pantaloon in Black, there is a symbolic handkerchief motif. Throughout Othello, Shakespeare explains the symbolism as the handkerchief as marital fidelity and uses it to assure the audience of Othello and Desdemona’s faithful marriage. In Pantaloon in Black, the handkerchief is first heard of as it is wrapped around Rider’s neck as he works to earn his deserved respect. We later find that it also foreshadows his death, just as it foreshadows the death of Desdemona in Othello. Another major similarity within both writings is the death of both of the protagonists’ wives. Not only do each of their wives die within the story, but they too are unable to fight death. Both William Shakespeare and William Faulkner wrote very similar stories including a black protagonist and both continue to be studied, as they always should be.
Krege pd. 1
William Shakespeare’s Othello is very close the William Faulkner’s Rider in many ways; they are both physical fit beyond normality. They both are taken advantage of because they are black, and often mistreated. Othello still, is intelligent, but was often fooled by jealousy, whereas Rider was unintelligent, and needed Mannie to guide him and keep in line, acting like his superego. on the other hand Othello is living a wonderful life of power and very happy before jealousy came upon him. Rider on the other hand is constantly oppressed by society, but because Rider is powerful with his brute strength, he can intimidate other people therefore giving him authority. Both characters like having power and control. The two stories show how white men depend on these strong, black, men. The duke and other governors in Othello depend on Othello to win the war for them. Othello ends up killing his wife over mere rumors of her unfaithfulness and Rider makes the poor decisions to kill his boss and therefore willing to give up his life too. Both Williams could have had the characters accept help from other characters instead of creating more confusion, but by not doing so the reader feels more involved wanting to help out Othello and Rider. William Faulkner wanted to create a different sense of care, so we know a little of how great Rider was before she died, but we mainly get to experience what he experiences after his loss. With Othello we get a different type of journey because we get to experience his happiness during his marriage and learn for his care for Desdemona. Shakespeare’s and Faulkner’s stories work together to create a similar experience for the viewer, of a good life and happiness when married, but then a loss and suffering.
Like pd. 7
I give a lot of credit to Shakespeare and Faulkner for their amazing works of literature and both have some really catching similarities and differences. First off, Faulkner we can clearly see that his piece of literature had some references from Shakespeare's "Othello", having a large black, powerful men as the main character- protagonist. These two characters obviously are persuaded for us to have the feeling of what they are going through with for such as racism. One similarity that stands out is that both wives died in the writings, both are unsuccessful in fighting out of death. Both writings consist of symbols such as the handkerchief, both were shown different ways but they are used the same because it is used as a motif. In "Othello" the handkerchief symbolizes as faithful love and shows the marriage that Desdemona and Othello shared. When Iago convinces of Cassio having the handkerchief, it starts the fall of the trust that Othello has to Desdemona in their marriage. In "Pantaloon in Black" the handkerchief Rider has is across his neck depicting that he has deserved the respect, but soon show its of a foreshadow to his death in the end. Take it to what i believe is that their "ids" got to the best of them and they could not control it once it took over them. Othello never in his mind thought he would kill his own wife, but because of Iago's persuasion and Othello believing it, he could not control himself therefore he killed his wife. Rider could not control himself when he started to drink moonshine and killing his own boss. Rider never was out of control, was more calm mood when his wife was alive, but because of her passing, his "id" took control of him and got out of control. Both Shakespeare and Faulkner wrote similar stories and not only did it pertain back then but it also still runs to this day. Both ended up taking their live because of their doings and therefore no longer had a meaning to live anymore.
Hillman pd. 1
I believe Othello and Rider are very much the same by the way they act. Othello is more strong willed and tries to prove to everyone how great he is while Rider is seen as someone who is strong. They both take up bad habits when things are not going in their favor. Rider takes up drinking because his wife died and Othello kills his wife because she cheated on him. Both of them become to be hated by some other characters. Othello is hated by Desdemona’s father and later by some other characters that want him out of the picture to get his position. Rider is hated because he is different than everyone else. He did not want to take a personal day when Mannie died but most people would. In “The Tragedy of Othello” the handkerchief is a very big symbol and Othello uses it to see how faithful Desdemona is to him. When she does not bring him the handkerchief he believes she is not very faithful as she once was to him. In “Pantaloon in Black” the jug Rider used was to block out how he was feeling and used it to drink away the pain. The jug symbolizes that he has nothing left so he drinks. Both Rider and Othello were described as tall and strong men that would do anything to be with the one they love. Both Williams had similar ideas on why they wanted a black protagonist. They were trying to show just how lonely and hard the world was for blacks back then. This idea gave the audience more of a caring feeling for Rider and Othello because they were not white. Both Williams also wanted something that was original and something that no one would think of doing. Both are great stories and have hidden messages that a reader would for sure have to dig into the story find.
McConniel Pd. 2
The main characters of William shackspear’s play “Othello” and William Faulkner main character in the short story "Pantaloon in Black" are very very similar. First off they are both described as huge black men of great strength. This may be to show even though they are big strong men that should not have to fear anything they can still be hurt just like anyone else to express that even though it looks like we are not hurting someone we must be careful because we may hurt them either physically or mentally without realizing it. There is also that fact that both characters experience the loss of their wives. This may be to show that people are not meant to be alone and these characters show us that once the people we care about in our lives are gone we might as well be gone as well seeing as Othello killed himself after Desdemona died and that rider stopped caring about anything after his wife passed away. Both of these characters have to deal with lots of racism also. Othello received this in the form of names like black ram and the moor. While rider received them in less school friendly terms (that I will not say to protect some of the less developed minds) and also through being treated like an animal by the white foremen and other white people of the time period. Also both men are treated like intellectually inferior beings. Othello was shown as dumb when he was tricked by Iago into killing his wife, and rider was never displayed as a smart character (along with every other black character in that story). Although both Othello and Pantaloon in Black have very similar stories and the only major difference that one was written in the 1940s and the other in 1604 making them written over 300 years apart
Cole Sivertson p5
The characters Othello and Rider are similar in many ways. Both of them encounter a predicament that causes their confidence to be tossed into turmoil. In Othello, his wife, Desdemona, is thought to have committed adultery, whereas in Pantaloon in Black, Rider’s wife passes away. Also in both of these excerpts there is a fair amount of racism. In Othello he is often referred to as an animal or a beast. It is the same in Pantaloon in Black. Othello is often referred to as a black old ram, and Rider is referred to multiple times as a wolf. However there is a difference between these two characters as well. Othello is a high ranking general and pretty well respected among his people, whereas Rider is a poor, hard working African American in the south. In both of these stories, a handkerchief is a major symbolic symbol. In Othello, Othello gives Desdemona a handkerchief that was his mother’s as a token of his love for her. When Desdemona loses the handkerchief, Othello starts to question her loyalty and that is when he loses his mind and ultimately ends up murdering her. In Pantaloon in Black, a handkerchief is placed around Rider’s neck. This is symbolic because it foreshadows that he is to be hung at the closing of the story. In both of these stories, the protagonists come from similar backgrounds. Othello is born into slavery, but literally fights his way up the ranks to being a highly respected general. Rider is treated like a slave in his early years, and even plays with toys no one would ever want to play with. However, Rider “fights” by working hard and making enough money so he is slightly respected. The differences between these two characters are how they are perceived by the general public. Othello is highly respected as a general. Rider is considered to be no better than a monkey because of the color of his skin. However he probably works harder than most white people of his time.
Peterson 2
William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, and William Faulkner's “Pantaloon in Black” share many comparable qualities. To begin with the obvious, they're both about the events surrounding two large, black mens' deaths who are grieving for the loss of their wives; however, the two stories take place in very different stages of shock and grief. In Othello, the reader experiences the events leading up to, and the killing of Desdemona, Othello's wife, by Othello, while in”Pantaloon in Black” the reader never actually meets Rider's, the story's main character, wife. A key difference that remains is Rider's wife, Mannie, is killed by forces out of any one person's control, while Othello is driven into a state of rash insanity, killing his own wife. This leaves Othello with feelings of unbearable guilt, and Rider with only loss and despair. The two frustrated men act in similar ways that end in their own deaths. Othello clearly commits suicide, while Rider more or less forces a series of events that would cause his own death to happen. Either intentionally, or in his grief-striken madness Rider exposes a white man's, his assumed superior, ploy of cheating during a game of cards. This event exposes yet another striking similarity, the deceitfulness of white men. This white work supervisor and Othello's lieutenant Iago both act in excessively beguiling ways. Though Shakespeare's play and Faulkner's short story were written hundreds of years apart, they reveal the injustices associated with the treatment of blacks by the prominent white man. Rider and Othello are forced to deal with society's treatment of them in differing ways, though. Othello is an established war leader, who has many assumed privileges in society, contrasting Rider's position, which is one slightly above a slave. This difference shows that despite a person's position and authority, they can be made to suffer the same injustices as anybody else.
William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, and William Faulkner's “Pantaloon in Black” share many comparable qualities. To begin with the obvious, they're both about the events surrounding two large, black mens' deaths who are grieving for the loss of their wives; however, the two stories take place in very different stages of shock and grief. In Othello, the reader experiences the events leading up to, and the killing of Desdemona, Othello's wife, by Othello, while in”Pantaloon in Black” the reader never actually meets Rider's, the story's main character, wife. A key difference that remains is Rider's wife, Mannie, is killed by forces out of any one person's control, while Othello is driven into a state of rash insanity, killing his own wife. This leaves Othello with feelings of unbearable guilt, and Rider with only loss and despair. The two frustrated men act in similar ways that end in their own deaths. Othello clearly commits suicide, while Rider more or less forces a series of events that would cause his own death to happen. Either intentionally, or in his grief-striken madness Rider exposes a white man's, his assumed superior, ploy of cheating during a game of cards. This event exposes yet another striking similarity, the deceitfulness of white men. This white work supervisor and Othello's lieutenant Iago both act in excessively beguiling ways. Though Shakespeare's play and Faulkner's short story were written hundreds of years apart, they reveal the injustices associated with the treatment of blacks by the prominent white man. Rider and Othello are forced to deal with society's treatment of them in differing ways, though. Othello is an established war leader, who has many assumed privileges in society, contrasting Rider's position, which is one slightly above a slave. This difference shows that despite a person's position and authority, they can be made to suffer the same injustices as anybody else.
Between the tragedies of Othello and Pantaloon we find beauty in common differences and similarities. Both show exceptional anti-racism/racism with Othello acting as the peculiar character causing raucous and marrying "out of line"; while Rider comes out at us as a beastly animal. Both Williams show minorities being depleted and judged throughout their stories. The mental trauma that society considers blacks to have more of is portrayed through both animals. The Moor is fathomed at the fact of his wife cheating and handles his grief with epileptic seizures. Rider's height was chopped in half when we are told of his wife's death. The reader experiences a sorrowful emotion with Rider and corruption of his life now that his one acceptable love is perished. Othello feels a much more aggressive pain as he imagines his wife courting and scandalously attracting other men into sex. Othello sees multiple emotions run across him as he suffocates his wife and dies suicidal. There is no other pain that I could imagine to feel so horrible about a self-committed action and to take away two lives in one day; one of them being myself. Rider is hung as his fate. We can analyze that his fate would be the same whether he was hung by others or himself. His depression was so eager that I do not believe he would choose a life any different without his love within it. In the end, he would have been happy to hang himself. Therefore we can grossly imagine that the people were merely doing him a favor. Both stories are based on suicide and the fate of minorities. The audience can read these stories to better comprehend not only how Shakespeare and Faulkner were predicting our future but how we have come to accept and better understand the flaws and importance that hold true for the past, present, and future.
NATE BOSCALJON PERIOD 2
The famous story "Othello" extremely relates to Faulkner's "Pantaloon in Black". Immediately in both stories, the beast with two backs and the giant man both fall under stereotypical view points and automatically fall under the other characters in the story. Pantaloon means a fool, especially in novels, and Othello is the fool played by the white characters manipulating his trust to Desdemona. Rider also becomes manipulated through his habit of gambling and drinking from the jug. A major difference between the two stories are the deaths of their wife. Mannie's death is unknown from the portion of the reading, but assuming what happened and according to Faulkner's perspective reflecting some anti racism in his sympathy for Rider, I can say Rider did not kill Mannie as Othello killed Desdemona. Othello's trust for Desdemona is twisted by Iago, and Rider's trust in Mannie even after death is twisted by his alcoholism and gambling habit. Using the sexist lense in comparing the two stories, I see how foolish the men are in both stories. They do control the majority, but play roles in which the significance does not compare to the love of the women. Rider and Othello both share a strange supernatural characteristic. Othello has a fit in which the reader assumes he is having a siezure, but the other characters refer to it as unknown. Rider does not convulge on the floor, but he talks amongst the ghost of Mannie living inside of the dog. Another similarity are the comparison and metahpors between the characters and animals. Othello has been referred to a beast and a black ram, which signifies unnatural, demonic characteristics. Although Rider is not directly referred to as a horse, the metaphor used by Faulkner signifies he is the horse being ridden by the white man. The white man riding the horse also relates to Barbancio in his control over Othello, although not entirely as Rider has the same compromisation. Rider and Othello both play an important role on the work force, and live impressive lives. Even though Othello goes to war, he would be considered living in a Utopia as he travels all over. His utopia is comparable to Rider's as they both fall in love with a women, and are able to come home afterwards to a fulfilled day.
Franklin P 1
Through out both stories Rider and Othello have many similarities. I think Faulkner wanted it this way, he using the same strategies as William Shakespeare did. Othello is a short novel about a black man that is good enough to fight for his life and others but not good enough to marry a white women. Othello also has a handkerchief that is very important throughout the story. It causes many problem between Othello and his wife, which he ends up killing because people lead him to believe that she was being disloyal to him. The Plantaloon in Black is also a brilliant story along with Othello. This short story is so well thought out that it makes the reader want more. Rider is the main character and he is a tall, well built black man that is just trying to make it in the world. He was known not to care about women and he only wanted to sleep with them. But when Mannie came around he knew he didn't want anyone else. Mannie had died and in the story it never explains to us how she died or anything about her death. In Pantaloon in Black Rider has a terrible ending to his life and ends up getting hung which is a symbol of the handkerchief. In both Othello and Pantaloon in Black the main characters both do not care if they are alive or dead since they do not have their significant other anymore. This shows that even to this day humans are depended on another to feel wanted and loved. We need that comfort to know someone out their wants us in their lives. Both short stories also have a huge importance in their work or job. Even though Othello is going to war he is still brave enough to fight for what he wants. Rider is also trying his best to go to work but its difficult for him since he feels so alone without Mannie there. William Shakespeare and Faulkner are extrodinary writers there writting is still the way things are now. It's ironic how things have changed so much but also ironic to see how things haven't changed at all.
Skyler Grimmius pd 2
Rider and Othello are similar in endless ways. Both characters are black males frowned upon by white characters. These men are both trying to live their lives as normally as possible, however do face personal encounters with white men which are doing their best to control Rider and Othello. For example, in “Othello”, Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, is in disgust that his daughter would even fathom marrying this black man-Othello. Brabantio even goes on to telling Othello that his daughter has betrayed him. In “Pantaloon in Black”, Rider works for a white man, and when Rider tries to buy alcohol, the white store owner refuses to except Rider’s money because the white store owner is convinced that Rider will become heavily intoxicated and be unable to show up to his job the next day and work for the white man. Both characters are also called various names in their stories. Othello is called a “Barbary horse”, among other names, and is constantly referred to as the Moor. In “Pantaloon in Black”, the narrator keeps referring to Rider as various animals like a horse ape, or a beast, which could be a racial comparison. Besides race, Rider and Othello both share the fact that they are in love. For example, Othello is so madly in love with Desdemona that although looked down upon by society and various family members, he still marries Desdemona and is even willing to die for her. Although Rider’s wife died, he still was madly in love with her throughout his life and even gave up gambling and drinking for her. Both characters also watched their loved ones die. In Othello, Othello ends up taking his own life after killing Desdemona and realizing that Desdemona never cheated on him and loved him dearly. Rider’s life is not taken by his wish. Rider is restrained and killed in front of the African American schoolhouse. Although Rider and Othello were different characters and went through different events in their stories, they still had many similarities and shared various experiences.
Vivens pd.5
There are many similar and differences between Rider and Othello. They are both facing racial problems and not having equal rights and being treated equally to others. In both stories neither man were treated equal to other citizens in the community. Rider was used or “rode” by the whites; the whites used and made him do things for them that any normal person would not have to do in a society. His boss no longer viewed him as a human being rather a machine that did all the work around the place and in the woods for him. Othello was very miss treated by the whites and even had some very disrespectful names that he was called, such as the moor. He was bashed for marrying a white girl who’s dad didn’t agree or know that they were getting married or even planned on getting married and Othello faced the wrath of everyone when people started to find out. They also both have lost their wives to death. Othello and Rider lived every day for their wives so when they died both of them died inside their souls and felt as if they had no purpose in living any longer. Othello dealt with things that happened to him different than Rider took on problems, Othello turned to murder when facing problems, although he would never have murdered or hurt his wife in anyway no matter what his problems were or who brought the problems to him. When Mannie died, Rider wanted to be left alone and wanted nothing to do with anyone or do anything. His family kept trying to be there for him and he pushed them away and turned to alcohol instead. He eventually wished to die rather than live another day in his life.
Chantel 5
William Shakespeare’s play Othello and William Faulkner’s short story “Pantaloon in Black” have many similarities and differences. To start off with the authors, both of them write tragic love stories. I think that William Faulkner had to have read William Shakespeare’s Othello to get his brilliant story line. But in this play and short story both characters struggle internally with emotions. Both of their wives die, although by completely different reasons. Othello kills his own wife because he finds out she is cheating on him and kills her before giving her the opportunity to explain herself. Rider’s wife’s death is a mystery and allowed to be thought of by the reader. They were both madly in love with their wives. In Othello he does not loose Desdemona until the end of the story and in Pantaloon in Black he loses his wife at the very beginning of the story, which allows the reader to view them from different perspectives. Although both authors make the reader want to care about Othello and Rider, I think that most readers care more about Rider. Rider is portrayed with God-like images, saying how massive and muscular he is. We also feel bad for Rider because Mannie was his everything and now he has to try and live day to day without her. Racism is another huge conflict in the play and short story, because of Rider and Othello both being black. They are both surrounded by stuck-up white people but yet still live their lives the way they want to not caring what the white people think. They are both lowered because of their race, but readers in Shakespeare’s time would have been furious that a black man was with a white woman. And Rider’s case may have been a little bit more acceptable, but either way this short story and play have many similarities and differences.
Carissa Van Hemert pd. 5
William Faulkner, author of “Pantaloon in Black” adds some very similar characteristics the main character, Rider, to Othello, the main character of William Shakespeare’s play. In both stories the main character’s both have love for their wives, but different kinds of love. In Othello, Desdemona was alive for all of the play until the very end. Pantaloon in Black has a different love, Mannie, Rider’s wife, was dead from the very beginning. Each story you can clearly feel that there is major love between each of them even if they are dead or alive. Rider and Othello are also both black race. The race is interesting because back in that time there was a lot of racism and I would think people would not agree with having the main characters as blacks, but especially Shakespeare obviously they wanted a change. They both could have been envious of the black’s physical abilities and advantages. People now days clearly see the advantages blacks have on sports especially. Alcohol is a big type of symbol in both stories. In Pantaloon in Black, Rider is an out of control alcoholic. Othello, people would celebrate with alcohol which is opposite of what Rider does with his alcohol. The alcohol makes both characters in the story act obnoxious and violent. Rider and Othello both seem to be sort of bi polar also. Rider thinks he is “alright” and stops drinking for awhile but then goes right back to his bad habits. Othello tries to believe Desdemona but cannot and ends up killing her even though he loves her dearly. With these main characters we grow to admire them but they grow to despise themselves, they blame everything on themselves. Another symbol in both of the stories is the handkerchief. In Othello the handkerchief was a sign of love and dedication and in Pantaloon in Black Rider has the handkerchief on his neck describing how strong and beastly he is. We could go on for days finding more similarities and differences between these two stories. I believe that William Faulkner based most of his short story on Shakespeare’s play Othello.
Meyer 2
In William Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice and William Faulkner’s short story “Pantaloon in Black” there are many similarities and differences. The main characters in these two stories, Othello and Rider, are exceptionally comparable. Both Othello and Rider star as the large, buff black men in Shakespeare’s play and Faulkner’s short story. They are both grieving over the loss of their wives in some point in the story. In Othello’s case, the audience is lead to the death of his wife. Throughout the entire story we are convinced that Desdemona has supposedly committed adultery. Othello becomes jealous of this unfortunate event and ends up not being able to cope. He is so outraged that he solves his problem with murder. Rider’s story, however, is nothing like Othello’s. We never actually meet Rider’s wife, Mannie. She happens to be dead before the story begins. Rider handles the death of his wife by following his past alcoholic ways. As Othello takes his anger out on his own wife, Rider takes out his with the alcohol. They are both emotionally unstable. Both of the troubled men’s emotions lead to their own deaths. The symbolism in these stories is relatable in multiple ways. The characters are both referred to as being animals. Othello is mentioned as the moor and Rider is mentioned as a wolf. These symbols show the theme of racism in the stories that were present during the time period they were written. Othello’s relationship with a white woman, Desdemona was looked down upon back in Shakespeare’s time period. The time period in which “Pantaloon in Black” was written had degraded slaves, which is what Rider had resembled in the story. Another symbol is the handkerchief. In both stories the handkerchief resembles some kind of meaning. In Othello the handkerchief symbolizes his relationship and love with Desdemona. The handkerchief happens to be foreshadowing in Rider’s story. It is positioned around his neck indicating the hanging that ends Rider’s life. Studying these two stories and comparing them shows how Faulkner and Shakespeare portrayed there racism and relationship views at different time periods.
Zacara Hovde pd 2
William Faulkner’s character, Rider, from the short story, Pantaloon in Black, and William Shakespeare’s character, Othello, from the play The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, have many of the same characteristics and face similar challenges. Rider and Othello are both black men that live amongst white people and are subject to prejudice and racism. Othello is a general he is both strong physically, and also because of his status, Rider is also immensely strong but is tremendously underrated. Both authors’ used strong black character’s to show how easily hate and racism can ruin even the strongest of men. Rider and Othello both have trouble coping with their emotions. Othello let’s his jealousy go unbridled and it causes him to kill his wife who was innocent of all of the acts he was lead to believe she had committed. Rider is so depressed after his wife’s death that he no longer cares about what will happen to himself. Rider performs tasks in hopes that they will be too strenuous that his body will not be able to handle it, and then challenges an extremely racist town in the south and is lynched by some of its citizens. Both gentlemen and challenged with the loss of their wives, Rider’s of natural causes and Othello’s to strangulation at his own hands. The emotions they feel are brought upon by white characters Othello’s jealousy is created by Iago planting ideas in his head, and Rider’s emotions are limited by the white men and women around him. The emotional attacks that these men face are what create their demise. It is also ironic that both stories are written by white men. The authors also intend to challenge the audience’s perspective on racism and create sympathy for the black community living under such restraints.
Minihan pd. 1
If I were to compare William Shakespeare character Othello and William Faulkner’s character Rider from Pantaloon in black there are so many possibilities. Rider and Othello are both black men who are looked down on by society. They both have an unforeseen potential that society wont let them show. They are both victims of love lost even thought its in different ways. They both even their lives because of that lost love. I personally would not want to be in a fight with either of them because they are both huge and can get scary when they are mad. I would have to say that Rider is more strength, shown when he can lift a huge log like it’s a match, where Othello is full of passion, which is proven when he’s in love with Desdemona and when he thinks she is a cheater and kills her. They were both compared to beast and animals, as if their skin color made them any less human. They were looked down on by whites and treated like they should just be slaves and not free men. They were both manipulated by whites, Rider with the gambling and Othello with the lie about his wife cheating. When they were married their wives brought out the best in all of them, Othello became a gentle person in the beginning and Rider gave up all his bad habits in order to be with his wife because he knew having her in his life was way more important than drinking and gambling his life away. In the end when they both lost their lives they went back to their old habits, Rider to drinking and gambling and Othello to being angry and hostile. When their lives died their souls died because I believe that their wives were their true soul mates. When your soul mate dies you have no point in being alive anymore.
Corliss 7
From reading both of these stories, it is apparent that William Faulkner most definitely had prior experiences of reading and knowing William Shakespeare’s work in Othello. Although Othello and Pantaloon in Black have extreme differences, they also share a various amount of similarities. In both situations they make the main character a big, strong, muscular man that every guy idolizes. However, they both physique characters black to insert the racial aspect throughout the stories. Although Othello and Rider are both extremely manly, both authors give them negative annotations by comparing them to animals. Othello is compared to a moor, while Rider is compared to as a wolf. Although in both stories Othello and Rider are demoralized by racism, the authors make a strong effort to persuade the audiences to sympathize and like them. A handkerchief in both situations also plays a major role. When Othello finds the handkerchief that symbolized his love for Desdemona, he is heartbroken. In Pantaloon in Black, Rider is hung by a handkerchief that kills him. The fact that the same symbolism was used in both stories is pure proof that Faulkner certainly had a background of Shakespeare’s work. The main difference made throughout the stories by the authors was that Shakespeare used jealousy as the main protagonist in Othello, and Faulkner used grief in Pantaloon in Black. Another difference is in Shakespeare’s play, Othello was responsible for showing his love for Desdemona and receiving the harsh fullness that was involved in doing so. However, in Faulkner’s short story, it was clearly stated that Rider was not responsible for the death of his wife and had no way of stopping the grief he had to endure. Even though this play and short story have there differences, the main point is that they both show the reality of racism, which unfortunately is still extremely relevant to today’s society.
Heidi Hoff Pd.5
In both short stories, both the main characters suffer from horrible tragedies. The similarity between these two tragedies is that they suffer emotional damage because of a loved one. The difference between then is that Othello suffers from the illusion that his wife is having an affair to were Rider mourns over the loss of his wife. Rider decides to drink alcohol to cope with the death of his wife. Othello on the other hand plots to kill his own wife for revenge to what she had done to him. In both ways each of them is killed because of their own foolish mistakes. Rider was put to death by hanging because he killed a white man in anger. Othello killed himself after he hand found out his wife was innocent and that he had made a terrible mistake. Both stories are very races too both the main characters as well. In Othello almost all the characters seem to be against him. Desdemona’s father hates Othello and Iago wants him dead by any means necessary. In Pantaloon in Black Rider is in a time were the black people were still treated as slaves and were not respected at all. Othello referred to a ram when Iago spoke to the Duke while Faulkner described Rider as a wolf by because of how beastly he ate his food. Both of these men had to earn their respect with their enormous masculine physic and skills. The only difference between this is that Othello actually got respect form the people of Venice because of his skill, strength, and the fact that he was born into a royal family. Rider was also born into slaver but people never gave him respect for his strength but instead feared him for the enormous amount of strength he had
Thomas Stoltenburg P5
A common trait of both protagonists in Othello and Pantaloon in Black is the characters emotional instabilities, for Othello Iago is taking advantage of Othello’s weakness for Desdemona, portraying him to a point where he is almost blissfully ignorant; and in Pantaloon Faulkner frequently points out at Rider’s weaknesses such as his inability to cope with loss, and his struggle with alcoholism. In both stories the characters are described as large and beyond hurt, to prove their point Shakespeare went as far as to put Othello in charge of an army, which back then required you to be a real man, and Faulkner was constantly describing Rider as having the strength of two men, or having muscles hard as steel, these descriptions fir right into the author’s plan, which was to display these men as untouchable by any physical pain, but show that emotional pain affects anyone even the biggest of brutes. Both Shakespeare and Faulkner also demonstrated ways that we should and should not cope with pain that we face; Shakespeare wants people to learn to get to the bottom of issues that can turn out to only be rumors, rather than acting brash and in Othello’s case going as far as to murder your wife. But, in Rider’s dilemma the one person who turned him to the path of god ended up being taken before their time was up, so instead of trying to let out his emotions properly by either crying or relying on friends and family to keep him together, Rider turned to alcohol to drown out his pain, unfortunately Rider figured out that even the numbing he received from moonshine could only mask his pain for a short amount of time so he did what he felt was necessary and was so desperate he had got himself killed so that he could rejoin his wife.
Nick Zody P1
I believe that William Shakespeare’s Othello and William Faulkner’s Pantaloon in Black are perfectly correlated. Both Shakespeare and Faulkner wrote these stories to exhibit the racism towards African Americans dearing each time period. Othello from Othello and Rider from Pantaloon in Black exhibit similarities throughout both stories. Both Rider and Othello are described with similar characteristics. Some characteristics are that they are both depicted with large muscular bodies and are six foot tall. They are also compared to animals or ferocious beasts because of their muscular physique and their lack of the ability to control there own emotions. Both characters deal with the emotions of the loss of their wives. Rider tries to cope with his loss by gambling and drinking, which only makes things worse for him. These emotions finally take over his body and make him get in trouble with the law. Othello’s emotions play tricks on him because of Iago’s sinister mind confusion he puts on Othello. Othello then does not know how to deal with these emotions, so instead of confronting Desdemona. Othello ends up killing her for no real reason. Later when Othello is told the actual truth of Iago’s scheme, he does not know how to place his emotions in a safe manner. So he commits suicide in the most selfish manner. Another similarity Othello and Rider face is the racism they face. Othello has to deal with the racism of Desdemona’s father, Barbantio. From the beginning Barbantio was not going to put up with his daughter marring an African American. It takes the wise duke to entice Barbantio that it is okay for his daughter to marry and African American. Rider also faces racism when a white women calls people out for cheating at a poker game. One of those people was Rider. Just because Rider is black, the white people raise a fuss about it and end up killing him. A difference is that Rider was born poor and dies poor. Othello is born into slavery but works his way up to a strong military figure. Another difference is that Shakespeare uses jealousy to be Othello’s main problem and that Faulkner used grief to be Riders main problem. Both stories have similarities and differences but the two authors wanted to push the racism theme and how it is a pointless act. It is also great that a writer like Shakespeare who died about four hundred years ago, can still influence now a day’s propaganda.
Brown Pd. 2
William Shakespeare and William Faulkner, both authors who wrote about the deep-south slavery and the troubles it caused. Othello and Pantaloon in Black share many of the same ideas and both Williams were brilliant writers. William Shakespeare wrote Othello as a play portraying his protagonist-Othello-as a black who went through numerous hardships to become the great leader he is in the play. Both Othello and Pantaloon in Black reveal life struggles that a lot of people deal with. Pantaloon in Black opens with the main character, Rider, feeling a sense of grief after experiencing the death of his lovely wife, Mannie. Othello’s main character drives to fit in with the dominant white ethnicities he is surrounded by. The two protagonists share this racial hardship and the authors persuade us to feel for each of the characters by the end of the first half of the reading. The similarities within the two writings are endless. In both Othello and Pantaloon in Black, there is a symbolic handkerchief motif. Throughout Othello, Shakespeare explains the symbolism of the handkerchief as a promise to the audience, to Desdemona, and to himself of his and Desdemona’s faithful marriage. In Pantaloon in Black, the handkerchief is first seen as it is wrapped around Rider’s neck while he is at a hard day’s work. Later, the audience is appauled at the imagery of Faulkner’s description of Rider’s death. Both of the incredible authors, used a handkerchief—out of the numerous objects in the world—to symbolize both characters’ deaths. Another major similarity within both writings is the death of both of the protagonists’ wives after we assume they both fight for the mutual love within their marriage. Similarities within the two stories are endless and not done on purpose. Both stories are clearly tragedies in English Literature and should continue to be studied throughout our lives.
Hoffman pd.5
When looking at both Othello and the Pantaloon in Black, we realized that William Shakespeare had an enormous influence on the great William Faulkner. In both of these stories, there appears not only a black man, but one who is racially discriminated on. In Othello, Desdemona marries Othello to the disgust of Brabantio. Iago uses racist slurs when he tells Brabantio the news that his daughter has eloped with Othello. When Iago says an "old black ram" is sleeping with Brabantio's "white ewe”, he is saying that black men have an animal-like, hyper-sexuality. This seems geared at manipulating Brabantio's fears of mixed races getting married. In Pantaloon in Black, you see that the white people don’t treat Rider as a person, but basically as a thing. He has no more brain capacity than a machine, just doing his work when he knows he is in pain and the people don’t care. Also take into consideration the usage of the handkerchief. In Othello, the handkerchief is a symbol of the love between Othello and Desdemona. When it’s lost, Othello is furious and feels that if she had lost it she no longer loves him. In Pantaloon in Black, we notice that the USAGE of the handkerchief is different but the use is known and it is obviously taken from Shakespeare. It covers up Riders face because he feels ashamed. He feels embarrassed and the grief is getting to him. The handkerchief here appears to be chocking Rider, but in Othello it is also chocking he and Desdemona, but in a figurative way. Iago is “chocking Desdemona and Othello by taking the handkerchief and putting it in Cassio’s room. We find later that Iago did choke their relationship into death and despair. Just as death was put upon Rider’s loving wife.
Rokeh 5
Othello and Pantaloon in black are similar in many ways. The most noticeable similarity is the vast amount of racism that is portrayed in these stories. The blacks are looked down upon and even compared to animals by the whites. Othello—a black man, falls in love with Desdemona—a white woman and her father Barbantio is connected with Othello through the army. He is first informed about this love affair and marriage proposal through Rodrigo and absolutely despises Othello for wanting to marry his white daughter. Both characters Othello and Rider have similar characteristics that I believe the authors intended. Large, muscular and animalistic features contribute to the racism and comparisons to apes. I both stories Othello and Rider’s wives die, but the circumstances in which they die are different. Othello killed Desdemona out of jealousy because he thinks she had an affair with another man. He later realizes that Desdemona did not have an affair and he cannot take the grief for what he has done and ends up killing himself. Rider did not kill his wife. She died at a young age from an unknown cause. This event pushed Rider to become an alcoholic. Later on in the story, his alcoholism lead to him killing a white man, resulting in the white people hanging Rider for his crime. That is another example of racism because the white people didn’t even listen to Rider to understand that he killed the man out of self defense. These stories help highlight a problem that has been around for a long time and will never go away. Racism is still around today and it is still a big problem. It is not as severe of a problem today; for example, not hang blacks for crimes. But they are more likely to be profiled and accused of a crime.
Grogan Pd. 5
Othello and Rider are similar in many ways. First, there is the issue of ‘white supremacy’. Othello is looked down upon because of the color of his skin. He works the hardest at his job yet he is not good enough for Desdemona. Rider is also an amazing worker yet because he is not white he will never be the best. He takes care of the few items he owns and adds unnecessary improvements to his home without arguing because it is what is expected of him. Othello and Rider are both commonly referred to as beasts; this is no ordinary coincidence. Both authors used various animal references to describe each character. The handkerchief in both stories end up leading to the deaths of the characters. In Othello, the handkerchief is a symbol representing love. Once Desdemona loses the handkerchief, the love is lost and her death is approaching. In the short story, the handkerchief is in the place around Rider’s neck. This is an apparent symbol to the choking of him later that eventually causes his unfortunate death. Another similarity is the fact that both characters are unable to handle their emotions. Othello cannot handle the false rumor that Desdemona cheated on him. It drives him insane and that insanity kills both of them. Rider is unable to cope with the death of Mannie. She made him a better man and he is lost without her. Being emotionally unstable causes him to act in unusual ways. This also kills him in the end. One difference between Othello and Rider is how they were raised. Othello may have been born into slavery but he gained the respect of many people through his military strengths. Rider received no respect; not even for his outstanding work ethic. As you can see Othello and Rider are extremely similar which is completely intentional but yet they both are their own character.
Christensen 2
William Faulkner and William Shakespeare are very close in many ways. They both are physically fit. They are over powered and neglected because of their color. Not your typical race in a story during that time. They were both subjected to huge amounts of racism. Similarities between the stories are the tragedies they endure. We can see Rider as bipolar because he says he is going to stop drinking but instead he does not because he is still thinking of his wife Mannie who died and how his life sucks. William Faulkner wanted to create a different sense of care, so we know a little of how awesome Rider was before Mannie died but instead we experience what he went through after his loss and with Othello we get the type of journey because with his experience his marriage is toward Desdemona who dies kind of with him in a way. She dies first and then his love for her gets to him and he kills himself. Othello is seen as intelligent but was fooled often by jealousy and Rider was seen as unintelligent, and need Manie. In both stories a handkerchief is a major symbol. In Othello the handkerchief was given to Desdemona and as soon as she loses it Othello finds out and he starts to belief the she does not love him anymore. The handkerchief in Pantaloon in Back is placed around Rider’s neck and later that becomes a symbol of his death. They both came from slave families and being slaves, but they do gain their freedom to through their hard work. They are also called animals in the story, such as beasts and wolves and dogs. Each author makes actions almost like and animal that other people in the stories are meaning.
Brannan 7
There are many similarities between short story Pantaloon in Black and the playwright Othello. The obvious physical features between Rider and Othello is that the two of them are black male characters surrounded by a white society. If seen today, these men would be respected greatly in society. Rider was an honorable and admirable man because he fixed up the un-owned property. Othello would be respected because he is a war hero and has high placement in society. Both of these main characters, however, do not handle their grief in a productive or healthy manner. Instead of talking their frustrations and problems through with someone they resort to destructive mannerisms, which are in the end, the result of their own death. When Othello thinks his wife is having an affair with Cassio he takes drastic measures by suffocating his beloved Desdemona. The “Green-eyed Monster of Jealousy” was Othello’s defeat. When Rider loses his Mannie in some unknown accident he throws himself back to his old ways – the same habits Mannie disapproved of. He buys a jug of alcohol and drinks it profusely. Later in the story he begins to gamble again, and this leads him to accuse and slit a man’s throat for cheating at a card game. This is also evidence that leads me to believe that both men do not know how to manager their anger correctly. A simple accusation (that could be/are false) is their motive to kill. Another similarity is the importance of the handkerchief in both stories. In Othello, the handkerchief is the “evidence” of Desdemona’s unfaithfulness to Othello. In Pantaloon the handkerchief plays less of a role, but it still is mentioned to show how exposed Rider is. Faulkner says, “his upper body bare except for the handkerchief..” The fact that Faulkner even mentions the handkerchief shows relevance to this story, and perhaps a reference to Othello itself.
Merkel pd. 2
Othello and Rider are incredibly similar yet their authors Shakespeare and Faulkner specifically differentiate the two stories by the characters and symbols. Both pieces of literature include hints at racism, sexism, and alcoholism. In both stories, death is evident and pronounced. In Othello, death is foreshadowed while Pantaloon is plain and obvious. Neither of them knows how to positively deal with their grief—Rider turns to alcohol and aggression and Othello turns to killing his wife. They both end up dying because of the poor rash choices they made. Othello was referred to as a beast and Rider was called a wolf. These are definite racist slams at the blacks in the story. In both stories, the females are not heroic in any way. In Othello, the two females are taken advantage of and both end up dead together. In Pantaloon, there is one female and she’s already dead at the beginning of the story. While Othello is incredibly respected by his peers, Rider is thought solely as an animal undeserving of respect. In both stories, alcohol is used. Again, Rider turned to alcoholism to avoid his grief. In Othello, Iago gets Cassio drunk and he begins to fight. In both stories, sympathy is used. The reader feels sympathy for Rider for the horrid loss of his wife. We want to reach into the story, pull him out, and tell him to stop drinking and start talking about his feelings. In Othello, the audience feels sympathy for Desdemona while she is being scolded by Othello for “betraying him.” We know that she did no such thing and would, again, like to pull Othello out of the scene and tell him to just talk to Desdemona. On that note, talking about feelings and situations would solve the majority of the problems in the stories. This is a hint to society that alcoholism and violence do not solve problems, they just make more problems that are harder to solve. While the stories have quite similar themes, the authors have made the characters very distinct by means of plot and emotion.
Oleson Pd. 2
Both William Shakespeare’s “Othello” and William Faulkner ‘s “Pantaloon in Black” use many similar symbols in their writings. They both have their main character fighting and struggling for the one that they love the most. In both stories, the two main characters both deal with the loss of their wives sometime during the novel. Shakespeare and Faulkner both use black males as their main characters. The two characters are very similar in their looks; tall, manly, and muscular. In both stories, racism is known to be very present and it plays a major role in both of the novels. Both characters are referred to as horrible animals and then they are treated like animals. In Othello, Othello is called an old black ram but is also praised by some because of the good solider Othello is. In Pantaloon in Black, Rider is called an ape that is unstoppable. He can shovel dirt with one hand, throw his shovel into the ground like a javelin, and he can carry logs that two guys couldn’t even move. The men could have handled both of their problems much differently, but each of them took their life into their own hands; they both died in an unpleasant way for doing so. The handkerchief serves as a symbolic message in both Othello and Pantaloon in Black. Both stories use the handkerchief as a very great symbolic symbol. In Faulkner’s story, the handkerchief foreshadows Rider’s death by being hung. We first see the handkerchief wrapped around Rider’s neck as he works to earn respect. Then in Shakespeare’s story, the handkerchief symbolizes the loyalty and dignity that Desdemona is expected to have for her husband given to her by him also foreshadowing her death after having it stolen from her; just like Othello stole the life from Desdemona.
burkman pd5
There are many ways that Rider and Othello are connected and how they are different. One way they are the same is because they are both black men at the center of conflict in both stories. They both lose in the stories. Both of them are big strong black men. They are very manly because rider can lift huge trees and is just a huge guy and Othello is manly because he is a war hero and leads wars and wins. Both the men are dependent on their wife though. Rider is dependent on her because he feels that he can’t even live without her his fire is completely gone without her being in his life. Othello is dependent on Desdemona because he is very jealous and if he can’t have her then he doesn’t want anyone to have her so he would rather have her die then let anyone else have her. They both lose their wives in abrupt ways. Othello gets tricked into killing his wife by Iago who says that his wife is cheating on him with Cassio. Othello gets so enraged that he retaliates by killing Desdemona and when he finds out how wrong he is he can’t live with the guilt that he has so he kills himself. Rider’s wife was never told how she died but we would assume that she died of a disease or something similar to that. He has no fight left in him when she dies so he goes and drinks and he gets into trouble by killing a white man. When he does this it pretty much seals his fate. He was hung for his crime of killing a white man which is what I assume he wanted because he wanted to be with his wife again. They are different because Othello kills his wife, unlike rider whose wife was killed by a disease of some sort.
Bridgit Zens Pd. 1
Othello becomes the villain in a sense that he becomes extremely jealous and cannot contain his jealousy. Rider becomes the villain in the fact that he becomes so depressed at his loss of Mannie that he ends up not being able to control himself. Desdemona meant the world to Othello just like Mannie meant the whole world to Rider. Othello felt betrayed by Desdemona while Rider just felt lonely without Mannie. Othello and Rider both did not know how to channel their feelings in a positive way. Othello did not know how to channel his jealousy to find validity in what Iago was telling him. Othello just took Iago’s word instead of seeing Desdemona’s infidelity himself. Rider did not know how to channel his sad and depressed behavior into making himself move and with the memories of Mannie. Rider ends up taking more lives instead of cherishing the moments he had with Mannie. Both men needed help but did not receive the right type of help that they needed. Iago kept pushing Othello towards deeper jealousy in the hopes that he would end up killing Desdemona. Rider’s aunt tried to help Rider out at the beginning by saying Rider needed to be with family and he needs to eat. Instead, Rider almost turned into some sort of beast. Othello turned into a villain monster that jumped to conclusions once told and tricked by Iago. Both Othello and Rider are compared to animals throughout. The animal imagery could be a racist comment because Othello and Rider are both black men living in a racist society during a racist time period. Othello and Rider both loved their women with all their hearts and without them their worlds are not the same. The loss then went to show the downfall of the men because they literally cannot live without Desdemona and Mannie because they are the two men’s most valuable aspect of their lives.
Shaina Sorensen
Othello and Rider are quite similar in many ways. They are both the main characters and they are both black. They are both admirable, honorable men for the most part. Rider does his best to fix up his RENTED home and Othello is a highly repected and honorable war hero. We also feel sympathy for both of them because Rider "could not remember his parents at all" and Othello ends up just getting lied to the whole play and destroys his life. There is a hankerchief in both stories. Rider has it around his neck forshadowing his death while in the play, Shakespeare has the hankercheif be the atomic bomb of the theme eventually eliminating almost every character. Both Rider and Othello end up with the mindset that death is better than life. Othello ends up killing himself and Rider turns his back to the man with the gun and simply walks away because he has no drive to live now that Mannie is no longer with him. Rider's aunt continuously tries to help him similar to Emelia trying to help Othello get all the facts straight. Both characters end up dying creating to tragic, heart wrentching themes that any reader can learn from.
Brock Wickett pd 5
The similarities and differences between Shakespeare’s Othello and Faulkner’s Rider are endless. Both are imposing black males that deal with their different problems in not the best of ways. They both also have symbols of clothing that connect them to their wives. Mannie tended to Rider’s overalls, while Othello gifted his precious hander kerchief to Desdemona. Both Characters have to deal with their wives leaving them in a physical or emotional sense. Although Desdemona never deserted Othello rather he had just been blinded by unconquerable jealous. Rider on the other hand loses his wife at a very young age and becomes absolutely distraught from the mental and physical pain. It is also interesting to see how theses big, strong, manly men have “soft spots” for their women. Rider and Othello appear tough, but lose everything when their wives are not around. Perhaps it was the females that held these powerful men together? Both authors really make each character’s weaknesses apparent. It is also interesting to see how Rider and Othello hold power in different ways. Rider is a slave with little to no say in his work duties. Othello, on the other hand, is a commander of an army and is very powerful figure in Venice. Also both men are extremely impressive physically, perhaps Rider a little more so than the Moor. They are so physically awesome, that the men get compared in a racist way to wild animals. Both Faulkner and Shakespeare cast black men as their main character at a time when it was not very socially accepted. I would even go as far as to say blacks were cast as villains at these specific time periods. Another powerful similarity between Othello and Rider is how their own struggles force the reader to look upon his own problems. These stories made me both reflect on my life and be thankful for all I have been blessed with in life.
Klumpp Pd. 2
In both stories racism is heavily showed, but that is because they were written around times where blacks were viewed as different and socially not acceptable. William Shakespeare and William Faulkner both use black people as their main characters, and in both stories they are portrayed as big, strong, and powerful. Shakespeare and Faulkner have a lot common connections, which is by no accident. Clearly Faulkner studied Shakespeare’s work, which led him to use common symbols also used in Shakespeare’s work. For example the handkerchief in Othello was placed to show Othello’s love for Desdemona, and that once it was lost so was their love for each other. The handkerchief in Pantaloon in Black is worn around Riders neck. The handkerchief is choking Rider, just as it ended up killing Othello. The main theme in both stories is grief and tragedy. An example of grief Faulkner writes about is when Rider tells the reader that he cannot remember his parents, his only emotional connection was with his wife, Mannie, and she is now dead. Othello is filled with all kinds of tragic and sad events. In the end most of the main characters end up dead. Another connection between the two stories is that both Rider and Othello at some point wish to die instead of live on. Rider wishes this once his wife, Mannie, passes away. He feels that he has nothing else to live for now that the only thing he loved is gone. Just like Othello feels when he finds out the truth about how Iago lied to get Othello into killing his wife. Once Othello kills his wife and finds this out he feels like he would rather be dead then to live on in life. Another example of the grief they both share. These two great stories of a lot in common but are also two completely different plots.
Eigenberg pd5
In the Pantaloon in Black and Othello, many connections were made whether they were intended or not intended. One similarity between the two is the handkerchief. In the Pantaloon in Black, the handkerchief resembles strangling and death. Where in Othello it resembled love and purity. It resembles death in the first case because the handkerchief is tied around the neck of Rider. It could have been covering his head to protect it from the sweltering heat from the sun; but William Faulkner chose to tie it around his neck. This is ironic because later in the story, Rider ends up being executed by hanging, or being strangled to death just as the handkerchief shows us. In Othello the handkerchief resembles love and purity because it was Othello’s grandmother’s handkerchief which she gave to her daughter and they each had wondrous marriages and never were divorced in their lifetimes. However, in Othello’s case, the handkerchief resembles jealousy and hatred because he assumes that Desdemona gave it to Cassio. This also ends up being the cause of the death of Othello in the play. That is one similarity between the two of how the handkerchief resembles many things differently, but has death in common. Another big similarity is the emotional state of the two main characters. Obviously both of them are African American, but they trauma and emotional stress they are put through is tough no matter how strong the person is. Othello is the head of the Venetian army, yet he lets jealousy get the best of him. Rider is described as one of the largest human beings to ever walk the Earth, yet he lets his love for Mannie intrude on him even simply living his day to day life. These are just a few of the similarities, and not differences that I found between the two famous pieces of work.
McClanahan pd. 1
William Shakespeare’s Othello and William Faulkner’s Pantaloon in Black portray great similarities and differences through there main characters Othello and Rider. Both men are suffering because of situations with their wives. Rider is suffering and grieving the loss of his wife who essentially made him into a man. While Othello is also suffering the loss of his wife his situation is different in the fact he took Desdamona’s life out of jealousy. Both men handle their pain and grief differently in very unhealthy and destructive ways that result in more pain. Othello acts out by reacting to his jealousy in violence ways and Rider tries to drink his pain away while only causing more problems for himself. They are both living in white communities as big black men whom are looked down on by the white men in their lives. While Rider struggles more with himself and the feelings he has inside, Othello struggles more with jealousy and the other men in the play. One very significant symbol in both stories is the handkerchief. Othello gives Desdemona the handkerchief to symbolize their undying love and commitment to each other. Rider has the handkerchief around his own neck which could tell us he is fighting to love himself and once he looses the handkerchief he has lost love for himself and the faith that he can continue on. One major difference in play and short story is the setting. Othello is set in the town of Venice, while Pantaloon’s setting is in a wooded area and everything is more spread out requiring more walking. As you can see Othello and Rider are very similar characters that are placed in very different setting and still are able to portray the same story through different actions.
Beldin pd. 1
Pantaloon in Black and The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice are both great and well known stories about racial conflicts. In both of the stories a black man will struggle with the loss of their wives mentally and physically. In pantaloons in black rider struggles with the loss of his wife because he loves his wife so much that he cannot live without her. This is very similar to Othello who also loved his wife so much that he could not stand the thought of Desdemona cheating on him so he killed her. So for both of these men they have lost their wives as well as spirit. They give up and not soon after doing so they give up their lives. The racism in the stories is also similar both men are controlled by powerful white men. Rider is controlled by the white mill owner. Othello is also controlled by a white man who is the Duke Venice. The handkerchief in both stories is a major simple that resembles the relationships the men have with their wives. It is a more prevalent in Othello because it has more meaning. It resembles his love for Desdemona, his relationship with her, and her loyalty towards him. For Rider the handkerchief has a smaller meaning. It is a foreshadowing tool to show how he will die. The handkerchief is around his neck which could show that his death will be by a hanging. It is because the men are black that they are pushed to their breaking points which lead to their down fall. They are only puppets to the white puppet masters. It does not help that both men grew up to fast and with unhappy childhoods. Othello’s child hood changed from one extreme to the next, he went from a slave to a well-respected general. Rider played with snuff-tins while the rest of the kids in the world had dolls and toy cars. These men turned out the way they did because of how they grew up and because of how other people treated and used them. It is the same way today for all people.
dede .1
Othello and Rider are the African American race for a reason. They both are highly wanted/needed for their duties but the whole time they are down graded on for their race. They both had a profound true love. They both end up dyeing for their beloved in the end through grief, pain, confusion. Othello was portrayed as into his work for the army while Rider was portrayed more devoted to his wife by giving up his gambling, drinking, major problems. They both used a handkerchief that was significant in both stories. They both had the color green of jealousy some how wrapped up in the story. Othello had green eyes and showed jealousy of Cassio because he believed he was trying to court his wife. Rider was surrounded by green—grass, woods, leaves, nature; he was jealous of his wife for dyeing and him living, for how perfect she seemed in his eye’s. Both use some form of a light going out. In Othello they put together blowing out the candles and Desdemona’s death. In Rider’s they used a match of Rider’s life dyeing out. Each writer used a writing style and language. Othello used a more romantic language while Rider used a more southern language. They both have love and disappointment tones in their words. Othello shows more conflict between characters and a more noticeable plot. Rider had a conflict with other characters but the main conflict was wrapped around him internally and the plot was more of a mystery. These two great authors definitely wanted to touch upon grief, jealousy, and love. They did a marvelous job with getting their audience to feel involved with the work and got them to care about life and others. These authors did not just create a story but they created history, struggle in history and problems that would become know as history; a story anybody can relate too and emotionally connect with.
Schroeder, Cassie Period 5
Both Rider, from William Faulkner’s short story Pantaloon in Black, and Othello, from William Shakespeare’s play Othello, have many similarities. For instance they are both deeply in love with their wives and both of their wives end up dying. Othello kills his wife because he was tricked into thinking that she had an affair with Cassio, and we assume that Rider’s wife dies of an illness and not by murder. Both characters have had a major catastrophe in their lives because of this and will both end up dying because they can not carry on living without their loved spouse. Also there are major symbols in both stories such as the handkerchief. The handkerchief is a symbol of love and trust to Othello. When Othello’s wife does not have the handkerchief, Othello assumes she cheated on him. The handkerchief in Rider’s case is a symbol of normalcy. He goes back to work the next day after his wife dies and wears the handkerchief just as he did every other day as an attempt to have a feeling of being normal. The handkerchief shows up in both stories but has a different meaning to the two characters. Another similarity between the two stories is they both deal with racism. They are both the protagonist and we feel concerned for the two characters. We feel sympathetic towards them and thereby not being racist against them. Also Othello and Rider are referred to as animals instead of humans by the white characters. Othello is called a beast while Rider is referred to as a horse and a dog. However, both men are greatly respected by their peers, Othello for being a great general, and Rider for being a hard worker. As you can see there are many similarities between the two stories if you analyze them with the proper lenses.
Petersen 7
Othello and Rider show many similarities in both of these stories. In both of these a black male falls. Ironically both of them fall because of a woman. In Othello, his fall is due to the “unfaithfulness” of his wife. The way Othello deals with this is by killing his wife (murder). In The Pantaloons in Black Rider falls due to the death of his wife. The way Rider deals with the death is by turning to alcoholism. Both of these men show they are incapable of dealing with their emotions in a healthy productive way. In other words they are emotional unstable. Both of these men act before thinking. They turn to things that will not help their emotional state at all. This ultimately leads to both of their deaths. In both stories, a racism theme is presented. In the stories they are both described as beasts at some point. Othello described as the moor and Rider as a wolf. This shows how the authors view these men. The authors do not view them as people, but as animals. A handkerchief is a symbol in both stories but used to represent different things. In Othello the handkerchief is symbolized as the love Othello and Desdemona have. It represents them as a whole and when Desdemona losses the handkerchief, you could consider their relationship lost as well. In the short story The Pantaloon in Black a handkerchief is also used. The handkerchief in this story is place around Rider’s neck. This is foreshadowing to the death of Rider. It just so happens the Rider dies by hanging.. right where the handkerchief was placed. Also both of these guys come from troubled backgrounds. Rider is pretty much treated like a slave and had to grow up with hatred surrounding him. Othello also a slave, but then he works his way through the social later and becomes a great general. The difference between these two guys is that Othello is respected by the people where Rider is treated and viewed as trash. Also Othello is affected by jealousy, however, Rider is affected by depression. It is pretty obvious that the author of The Pantallon in Black read Othello and used many things from the brilliant play to add into his short story.
Schultz, pd 1
I find the two stories exceptionally relatable to each other with the fact that both the stories give the main character the same race. Being black in both times the typical stereotype would be they are both inferior in every way possible. However I find it interesting that in the time further back into slavery yet Othello is a highly recommended soldier and general where Rider is simply a worker thrown to who needs him like a heavy hammer. One major event is the source of both stories is that they both lose the one they loved. Though we are not given a reason as to why Rider’s wife dies, we are given a feeling that he feels immense guilt and sorrow as they both do. We know for sure that Othello kills his wife with the outstanding jealousy that most people do not realize how it can affect you though there is no significant symbol showing us what killed Riders wife. Another huge symbol of both stories is that their wives symbolized there life. Rider was sent immediately back into a whirlwind of hell on earth within his life where as for Othello her dying was just as impacting as him killing himself first. The final comparison I made was that Othello was deceived by a white man and brought him to his fate. Much like Rider, I would like to assume that the white people were to blame for his wife’s death. One major difference between the two stories is I do not recall the Pantaloon in Black is the sign of daylight. From beginning to end it seems to be miserable where in Othello, it takes more of a rollercoaster ride through moods. The story brings you through all the emotions from happiness to threat and betrayal and both depict death.
Powell Per.2
There are several startling similarities between Othello (from The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice) and Rider (from Pantaloon in Black). One thing they have in common is that they are both black, living in a society where black people are looked down upon. They both directly experience racism in their stories. They both make very foolish decisions that ultimately lead to their death. And both of them have to deal with the death of their wife, which is the source of their grief. Othello kills Desdemona himself when he thinks that she’s being unfaithful to him. When he finds out, he decides that he does not deserve to live, and kills himself in his grief. Both actions are very rash and foolhardy. Rider is in intense grieving because he feels that after the death of his wife, there is no point to him living anymore. Rider goes to work the next day, but decides that he doesn’t have a purpose there, and quits. He then decides, instead of facing the problem in a productive way, to just get as drunk as he can of off moonshine. After that he decides to confront a white man who was cheating, which ended up with Rider killing the man. Rider decides that after all, death would be more fitting than being locked up, so he (like Othello) is responsible for his death, even though it’s a little less direct. In Freudian terms, both characters follow their id more than their superego. The handkerchief was in Pantaloon in Black by no mistake, it is not merely coincidence that both Othello’s plot revolved around a handkerchief and Pantaloon in Black also features that same symbolism. In Othello the handkerchief metaphorically is the hands around Othello’s throat, because to him it symbolizes his marriage to Desdemona. When he sees it in Cassio’s hand, it is as if the handkerchief is the hands and Iago and Othello’s own jealousy are the muscles behind the hand. In Pantaloon in Black, there is a handkerchief tied around Rider’s neck. This is almost literally choking him, because it reminds him of his “past life.” It is pretty clear, when reading Pantaloon in Black, that William Faulkner studied William Shakespiere.
Hair Pd. 5
Obvious parallels between Othello and Pantaloon in Black is that both the play and the short story feature a black protagonist. Which, both the play and even the short story were written during times of prejudice against blacks, or rather, most minorities. It is not truly clear whether both have racist intentions or promote anti-racism, since both lead to the black protagonists to "coming undone". Many animal references have been made in both, signifying that each protagonist is a beast in some way, whether it is good or bad, that is mostly up to the reader. Reviewing the physique of both the characters, both authors have written them to be the most macho of men, whether it is because of a stereotype or because it is simply true that blacks generally have a better physique than most. I personally believe that they were built to be that way, not only because of the general physique, but also because it shows how powerful and potentially dangerous the other is. Which in reality, both of them are. They're both ruled by heartbreak, although Othello is heartbroken by the lies created about Desdemona, and Rider is heartbroken by the passing of Mannie. They both rely so heavily on their female counterpart that is leads to their undoing. And although both stories show the undoing of Othello and Rider, in the end it shows to us what they really are-- human. Once Othello realizes the heinous deed that he has committed in murdering Desdemona, he grieves for his sins and the death of his wife, and regrets his actions. It shows us that he is in the end, not an animal at all, but an average every day delicate mortal being. The same applies to Rider, all the while his actions may seem like those of a beast’s, the actions are all out of grief of losing a loved one, which when losing someone or something that is so incredibly dear, some may very well lash out in an animalistic way as a way to cope or grieve. In conclusion, both the short story and play are terrifically marvelous, and I would recommend them to any scholar, or anyone genuinely interested in fine literature. I do believe they share many, many similarities, even though they are completely different yet the same sort of story.
Hauser prd 1
Othello is extremely like rider, they both are oppressed by the public, both seen as being stupid and even admitting it. They both died at the end of their stories, though Othello stabbed himself and Rider was hanged. Both of them lost their love of their lives, only at the start Othello lost his wife to lies fed by Iago and Rider lost his wife to unknown causes at the start of the story. Of course the big thing that’s the same is they are both black. The differences are that Othello killed his own wife while we have no idea what happened to Riders wife. While Othello solved his problems through anger, Rider started to solve his problems through drinking. Both of those are extremely stupid ways of dealing with losing a wife whether they died or you were told that she had been cheating on you. Rider of course was a meaningless worker who could through tree trunks as if they were twigs, where Othello is a general of a powerful army for venice. Though both have different jobs they are both seen as insignificant and hated upon by a plethora of common folk.
Carnes, Pd. 7
Well first off, both stories are written by a William. Both Williams include the man character as being black and face with a difficult conflict, which adds to the intense story plot. Both stories have to deal with the black men’s wives, and both of the wives end up dying only in Pantaloon in Black we find Rider’s wife dies of an unknown death right away, while Othello’s wife gets murder ironically by Othello. Both men have to deal with racist people in their society, who do not help one bit to their problems. Othello can be considered as a slave to the Duke because he is the head man of the army, which puts him into an important spot, yet he has to respect and honor the Duke at all times; just like a slave. Rider is also a slave to the lumber mill’s boss. And, of course, the mill’s boss is white. This makes Rider a slave because he is an important tool to the white boss. He has complete power of Rider at his work, but lets Rider kind of do what he wants because Rider is the best worker at the mill. Both stories we noticed as a class have a handkerchief involved. Rider has a handkerchief wrapped around his neck, while Othello has a handkerchief as a major symbol to Desdemona. William Faulkner did not have to put the handkerchief in his story, but he did because I believe we wanted to write another Othello, only in today’s format of language and writing. I believe William Faulkner wrote Pantaloon in Black to help Shakespeare be recognized because he was influenced by Shakespeare’s great poetic and play writing strategy.
NelsonJ pd. 7
Othello and Rider have many similarities, but also many differences. Othello loses his wife because he believed Desdemona had cheated on him with Cassio. He did not believe her when she argued that she had not slept with Cassio, Othello only believed the words Iago had told him. Rider, on the other hand, had no choice of losing his wife, Mannie. She was his true love, Rider even saw her when he went back home after the funeral. He did everything in his power to die just so he could be with her again. Rider and Othello both had to deal with a little bit of racism though. Rider was told he belongs at work and that is all he should be doing, with the other black folk, being controlled by the white foreman. He is cheated on during gambling by Birdsong, a white man. Othello is also working under some white people such as the duke, trying to protect their country. He as well is cheated on by Iago who is suppose to be his loyal friend, but is lied to and ends up suffocating his own wife because of what Iago told him. The both of them both had their ids playing with their minds throughout the play and short story. Othello’s id was telling him to believe in all of Iago’s lies and to kill Desdemona. As well as Rider’s id was telling him to start drinking again and gamble, the things he gave up for Mannie.
Olson 5
Similarities and differences between two protagonists, Othello and Rider: The two Williams, William Shakespeare and William Faulkner, both have written an extraordinary story about a strong negro character. Othello has a unique physical body stature and is a leader of a Venetian army. Rider, who may not have abs like Othello nor a war-hero, I s a gigantic individual! Especially for someone who is, “better than six feet and weighed better than two hundred pounds” (131). We can view both of Othello and Rider is in a crucial racial area between the two stories, yet Mannie is in a much worse area than Othello. The two protagonists are being compared as animals. They are described as monkeys or mere puppets towards the white folks. In relation, Othello and Rider do not handle emotions very well. Unlike Othello, Rider has already lost his wife in the beginning of the story. He is in grief. The depression of the lost of his love has driven Rider mad. He catches Birdsong cheating in dice and slit his throat! The man cannot eat in his house without his Mannie. Rider sees the ghost of Mannie when he stepped into his house. Astonished to see her, but falls in great grief to see she disappears in front of him. Rider dearly wants to be with his wife again so he tries to kill himself. Yet, he is not very successful at doing so by drinking himself to death. Othello is succumbed by jealously. He has easily fallen into Iago lies and trickery into killing his innocent wife, Desdemona. It is tragic to discover he has been lied to about his wife by Iago. He regrets his evil deed and successfully kills himself in the same bed as Desdemona. Even though the world has not been fair for either Othello or Rider, the protagonists die in hoping to be with their wives in the Other World.
Frazer 1
Comparing Othello and Rider, both of these stories are written to show value to something. William Shakespeare wrote Othello to show us how an old black man could get a young beautiful lady like Desdemona. Why would this be out of his reach well the story was set back in Shakespeare’s time when Othello was just used for fighting and Desdemona had to run off from her high seated father figure head to get married this still wouldn’t have work just 60 to 70 years ago when blacks where segregated and could not seat in the white section. Othello gave Desdemona a handkerchief that Othello’s mother had giving him so his lady would not cheat it is a symbol of promise. In the story Pantaloon in Black William Faulkaur the handkerchief acts like a symbol of comfort in a way for Rider. In this story the Reader finds out that Rider’s wife Mannie is dead and she is roaming around looking or watching over him in a way to help with the comfort of losing her. Pantaloon in Black is not so much racist but it wants you to think it is because Rider stops his drinking and gambling when he meets Mannie and then all of a sudden when she dies he goes back to drinking and gambling and the white folks don’t really want their butts on the line with the alcohol so they don’t server him that much. Then Rider is walking around and he has his jug in his hand and his talking to his jug. Because he see himself in the jug the person that he is going to become if he keeps on drinking and gambling and he realized he stopped for a reason and that was Mannie so he tells everyone that “ah’ am thu wit al dat” saying his is done no more for him. Because in that walk he also realized he is poisoning himself.
Ashley Pd.1
Othello and Rider can be compared and contrasted in many ways. The stories are similar yet they are also very different. Rider and Othello both face racial prejudice and white supremacy. Brabantio, Desdemona's father, looks down on Othello as a monster or animal even though Othello is commanding officer of Venice's armies. The white foreman at the mill also looks down on Rider on as an animal. The emotions that Othello and Rider feel ultimately lead to their downfalls. Othello’s jealousy brought on by Iago, causes Othello to become paranoid about Desdemona and Cassio having an affair. Othello becomes so paranoid and jealous that he kills Desdemona, but realizes she did not have an affair with Cassio. Desdemona’s murder leads to Othello’s downfall and Othello kills himself so he can be with Desdemona again. The Pantaloon in Black, Rider is depressed and angry with God for taking away his wife, Mannie. Rider curses the Almighty and wants to die so he can be with Mannie again. Both Othello and Rider relied on their wives so much that they cannot bear to go on living without them. In both Othello and The Pantaloon in Black, William Shakespeare and William Faulkner use vivid imagery and complex syntax to describe their stories. Shakespeare and Faulkner also use symbols and motifs like light or the handkerchief to express an underlying theme to the reader. Faulkner and Shakespeare do a great job of forcing the reader to sympathize with Rider and Othello. Both men face tragedies and heartbreak when they lose their wives. Faulkner and Shakespeare’s stories are written in the same style with a black protagonist facing atrocities, tragedy, and death. Shakespeare and Faulkner want readers to understand what racism does to society and how it can tragically affect lives.
Klumpp 5
Othello and Rider are very similar and different in many ways. Both characters share difficult pasts filled with hardship and death. For Othello, he is a man of the army, a true warrior of battle. He is a well respected person among his peers and is a high ranking general. This is how he wins his love for his wife, Desdemona. The thing is though, that Othello believes that she has committed the sin of adultery. Rider on the other hand had a wife, unfortunately for him, she passes away. Rider is basically a slave throughout his early years. He is poor, but a focused, hard working African American in the South. He never had it easy. When Rider “fights”, he does so by working hard to make enough money to keep him alive. This gets him some respect, but not like Othello. Othello is literally born into slavery and fiercely fights his way through life. He joins the army and works his way through the ranks to become extremely respected and trustworthy. In both of these marvelous stories, racism is a huge theme. Being “black” was a hard thing to do in those times. They were not accepted by the majority of white people during that time. Othello and Rider are referred to as beasts in each story. Othello is continuously called an old ram and Rider is called a wolf. Another major theme to these stories that connects these two characters is the handkerchief. In The Tragedy of Othello… Othello gives Desdemona a handkerchief, which symbolizes his love for her, plus it is the first gift she receives from him. The handkerchief was Othello’s mother’s, which already shows the love between the two. When Desdemona cannot find the handkerchief, Othello becomes skeptical about her loyalty to him. Othello begins to go mad and tries to figure out why she would do such a thing. In the end, it leads to her death. For Rider in Pantaloon in Black, the handkerchief is worn around his neck. Unfortunately this foreshadows his hanging at the end. The differences between them is judged by the people, and how they think each character should act and feel.
Kulzer 2
While reading Othello and Pantaloon in Black, it is obvious that the two protagonists are set up to face racial barriers that will add to their demise in each of the stories. William Shakespeare’s Othello is about a black war hero who marries the senator’s daughter without his consent. Barbantio, the senator and Desdemona’s father, is enraged by this factor. He states, “To fall in love with what she fear’d to look on!” (12) This statement is very prominent and also very racist. It is almost as if Barbantio is suggesting that all black men should be feared. Women should especially be afraid of a black man because of the high risk that he will rape her. However, this is not how Desdemona feels. She tells her father that she loves Othello out of her own free will and that he did not bewitch her. Othello is a sort of exotic creature to her-something that she has never experienced. Near the end of the scene, Barbantio tells Othello “Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see: She has deceived her father, and may thee.” (18) With this seed of betrayal planted, Iago, a white man, makes his move. He begins to water the seed as he fills Othello’s mind with false statements of Desdemona’s loyalty. It really shows the reader how manipulative white people were and how foolish Othello is. The story ends with murder in the marriage bed and the realization of the horrid Iago. William Faulkner’s Pantaloon in Black is about a black man named Rider. We as the reader feel an instant connection to him as we are boldly provided with the fact that he is burying his own wife at the beginning of the story. Rider is also set up against racial barriers as he begins to fall back into his past. White men control everything around him. His boss his white, the man who sells him the liquor is white, and the man leading the gambling is also white. Rider defies his boss and leaves his work place. Evil temptations of the past rise up again and Rider begins to drink liquor that he bought/almost stole from a white man in the middle of nowhere. This man tells Rider that he does not need a jug of alcohol, but he can have a pint. However, the man is not looking out for Rider; he is only looking out for himself. Rider takes the alcohol anyway and leaves the man. As he drinks it, he begins shouting at the sky. It’s almost as if he is trying to defy God. He then goes to a hut to gamble but is faced against another white man. As the man continues to not let Rider gamble, Rider loses it. He no longer has white showing in either of his eyes. The animal in him is unleashed. Rider slits the man’s throat in an instant and walks out. He gives himself up later on and is put into prison, though he is not there for long. He uses brute strength to tear the cell door from the wall and leave. Around this point in the story Rider states that he is just thinking too much. Later on we find that Rider is hung at an old black school/church. Both Othello and Rider are compared to animals in these stories. They were looked down upon by the white population. They both also over-thought things and in the end it led to their demise. However, I feel that they are not the foolish ones in these stories. I see the white people as the fools because their own ignorance keeps them from seeing what life for these black men is really like. The white people are in the dark about the situations and in the end use the black men as pawns in their own “right” world.
Carissa Gerovac pd. 1
Rider and Othello are similar, yet different, in multiple ways. Both William Shakespeare and William Faulkner place black men as the main character in their plot lines. This may seem relatively unimportant until you consider the time periods that these pieces of art were written. William Shakespeare inhabited an age full of racism, slavery and bias. William Faulkner, too, resided in an era quite similarly permuted with the above stated societal perceptions. Secondly, both Othello and Rider are perceived as animals at some point in the play. I do not believe that this is a Freudian slip brought on by societal pressures, but rather a sort of scene setter or character embellishment strategy. Both Shakespeare and Faulkner are brilliant writers and, I doubt, would make a statement unthinkingly. Othello and Rider are different, too, though. Othello is more of an upper class black man, while Rider inhabits the much lower class. Despite the differences in social class, though, both are controlled by a white man. Othello is puppeteered by Iago, while Rider is controlled by his white foreman. Both Othello and Rider are plagued by love. Othello, in a sense, caused his own demise by refusing to directly confront his wife about the fears and doubts that Iago cast into his mind. Rider, though, just acted as an observer as death whisked the one he loved away from him, giving him no opportunity to save her. Othello and Rider are both feared and revered, yet also looked down upon.
Othello is portrayed as an intellectual force, Rider as a built, greater-than-life figure blessed with an extreme amount of strength. Othello and Rider both possess a quite symbolic handkerchief. The handkerchiefs quite similarly represent their love for their significant others. (Which is why Desdemona losing the handkerchief inflamed Othello as much as it did.)
Stirrat 5
Othello gives Desdemona a handkerchief, which symbolizes his love for her, plus it is the first gift she receives from him. The handkerchief was Othello’s mother’s, which already shows the love between the two. When Desdemona cannot find the handkerchief, Othello becomes skeptical about her loyalty to him. Othello begins to go mad and tries to figure out why she would do such a thing. In the end, it leads to her death. For Rider in Pantaloon in Black, the handkerchief is worn around his neck. Unfortunately this foreshadows his hanging at the end. The differences between them is judged by the people, and how they think each character should act and feel.
Heidbrink 1
When comparing and contrasting Othello in “The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice” by William Shakespeare and Rider in "Pantaloon in Black" by William Faulkner there are many more similarities than differences. In both stories racism is a prominent theme. The two protagonists, Othello and Rider, are strong black men struggling in a dominant white world. Although they are physically enormous, both are metaphorically small. Othello is somewhat more accepted in society than Rider is simply because Othello is a major war hero. Rider is only thought of in society as a strong a white man’s worker, which is why the white society needs him. Rider and Othello both were born into less than ideal conditions. Rider was born into an extremely poor family in which he could not remember his parents at all. Othello was born a slave, but gradually worked his way to becoming a respected war hero. Throughout each story the men were given beastly qualities much like animals rather than humans. Othello was called a moor and Rider was referred to as a wolf. Another obvious similarity between Othello and Rider is the loss of their wife and their lack of healthy coping skills. Figuratively, Othello lost Desdemona due to his own jealousy before he even killed. After Othello realizes the tragedy that has occurred, he proceeds to kill himself since he believed there was no other way to cope. On the other hand, Rider was completely dependent on his wife, Mannie, so when she passed away he did not know how to cope besides turning to alcohol and gambling. Each of their coping mechanisms led to their own fate: death. A major symbol in both “Othello” and “Pantaloon in Black” is the handkerchief. Faulkner clearly knew Shakespeare when he placed the handkerchief in his short story. In Shakespeare’s tragedy the handkerchief symbolizes Desdemona and Othello’s love for each other, but in the end ends up ruining their love. Faulkner adds the handkerchief around Rider’s neck, foreshadowing his future hanging. Both of the “Williams” had similar racism themes and symbols. Shakespeare’s “Othello” and Faulkner’s “Pantaloon in Black” have many similarities and connections to one another.
Pollema 5
^Pollema 2
The more and rider are similar in many different ways. One abviouse this is that they are both black. Because they are black they have to over come a number of different things, like not letting all the racisum get to them. They go from not having happyness to having happyness to losing happyness. They both lose someone they love, and as a resalt they end up dieing. The way they dies is differen. The more kills himself because he has killed his wilf with jelousy. And rider is hung because he messes with the wrong people so they hang him in the school as an example to all the blacks that whites are at the top. They ar both physically strong but mentally they are weak. They both fight for a place in the white society. The more is more socally excepted because he is a war hero. But rider is not because he is working for a white boss.
Podhradsky
William Shakespeare and William Faulkner both have similar techniques and symbols in their writing. In William Shakespeare's Othello and in William Faulkner's Pantaloon in Black they both have to do with racism, they both loose their wife, and they both end up dying.Othello was tricked into believing that Desdemona was cheating on him by Iago, which caused Othello to murder his wife, dedemona and later kill himself. Pantaloon in Black, Rider was struggling with the emotional greif of loosing his wife, Manning. Rider had difficulties
were he ended up drinking himself to relieve the pain, also he was pushing the people away who cared and wanted to help him. Rider was also killed. William Shakespeare and WIlliam Faulkner both used African Americans as their lead characters and had the other characters Cacausion. Othello and Rider both have the same body type, Tall and muscular. They also used a lot of symbols that were similar such as both being referred to as animals. In Othello the hankerchief is a major symbol, that shows the love Othello has for Desdemona but when the handkerchief got into the wrong hand, the love turned to jealously. In Pantaloon in Black the "jug" is a huge symbol, the jug is full of alcohol, which Rider believes he needs to help him grieve, but when Mannie was with Rider he didnt need to drink. In both William Shakespear and William Faulkner they both write a story about a tradies, in which we all fear we will not have to live through. I love William Shakespears stories, Othello is another one to add to my list, and Pantaloon in Black is also amazing both i would recommend.
Knudtson7
I believe Othello and Rider are very much the same by the way they act. Othello is more strong willed and tries to prove to everyone how great he is while Rider is seen as someone who is strong. They both take up bad habits when things are not going in their favor. Rider takes up drinking because his wife died and Othello kills his wife because she cheated on him. Both of them become to be hated by some other characters. Othello is hated by Desdemona’s father and later by some other characters that want him out of the picture to get his position. Rider is hated because he is different than everyone else. He did not want to take a personal day when Mannie died but most people would. In “The Tragedy of Othello” the handkerchief is a very big symbol and Othello uses it to see how faithful Desdemona is to him. When she does not bring him the handkerchief he believes she is not very faithful as she once was to him. In “Pantaloon in Black” the jug Rider used was to block out how he was feeling and used it to drink away the pain. The jug symbolizes that he has nothing left so he drinks. Both Rider and Othello were described as tall and strong men that would do anything to be with the one they love. Both Williams had similar ideas on why they wanted a black protagonist. They were trying to show just how lonely and hard the world was for blacks back then. This idea gave the audience more of a caring feeling for Rider and Othello because they were not white. Both Williams also wanted something that was original and something that no one would think of doing. Both are great stories and have hidden messages that a reader would for sure have to dig into the story find.
Alexander 7
Othello and Rider are in many ways similar. In both of their stories, they have to face racial issues. Othello had to break that racial barrier just in order to be with the one he loved so dearly. As with Rider, he had to stand up for himself when the white men tried to bring him down or when they tried to cheat at playing cards. In both scenarios, they both have to fight for what they believe in. In Platoon in Black, Rider has a hard time with his wife dying. When they met, he said that he was done with all of the drinking and gambling, and he really was. Well, when his wife, Mannie, dies, the white men in a way gets him back into his old habits. They gambled the night Mannie was buried and Rider joined in and won, well the white man cheated and they got into a little bit of a fight. As Rider walked home, there were some drunk white men in the field and they stopped him and asked him where his jug was. Meaning his liquor. Kind of like them saying “oh he is black, they always drink” it is a racist thing. While in Othello, although a very important figure in the army, he is still discriminated against. He marries a gorgeous woman named Desdemona, and try to get through all the rumors going around. When he cant take the rumors anymore, he kills his wife instead of talking to her first about it. In the beginning of the play, when they tell Desdemona’s father that her and Othello are in bed together, they call him all kinds of animal names. Giving the effect that he is nothing more than an old animal. In both stories, the characters kind of get defeated by the racism.
Nelson 1
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